L  I  B  K  ^  I^  Y 

(IF   THE 

Theological     Seminary, 

PRINCETON,  N.  J. 

,  BV  4501  .S28  1863 

'    savage,  Sarah  Chauncey^ 

^    The  right  use  of  speech 

B 


THE 


RIGHT  USE  OF  SPEECH. 


BT   THE   AUTHOR    OP 

"THIS  ONE  THING  I  DO,"  AND  "THE  FORMATION  OF 
CHRISTIAN  BELIEF." 


>. '.'  a.  ',1 


•"'^' 


If  it  add  nothiug  to  your  -well-instracted  knowledge,  it  may  bring  somewhat  to 
your  well-disposed  remembrance :  if  either,  I  have  my  end,  and  you  my  endeavour.— 

Q0AKLES. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

G.  W.  CHILDS,   BOOKSELLER  AND  PUBLISHER, 

Nos.  628  AND  630  Chestnut  Street. 
1863. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1863,  hy 

GEOKGE    W.    CHILDS, 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the 
Eastern  District  of  Pennsylvania. 


Henry  B.  Ashmead,  Printer, 

No3.  1102  and  1104  Sansom  St. 


CON^TEE^TS. 


INTRODUCTION, 


CHAPTER    I. 


THE     INTELLECTUAL     INFLUENCE     OF     THE    GOVERNMENT     OF 

THE    TONGUE, 11 

CHAPTER    II. 

THE  EXAMPLE  OF  DAVID  IN  RESPECT  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT 

OF  THE  TONGUE, 15 

CHAPTER    III. 

THE     INFLUENCE    OF    THE    GOVERNMENT    OF    THE     TONGUE    ON 

CHRISTIAN    PROGRESS,  .  .  .     "       .  .  .  20 

CHAPTER    IV. 

THE     INFLUENCE   OF    THE    GOVERNMENT    OF   THE    TONGUE    ON 

PERSONAL    HAPPINESS, 31 

CHAPTER    V. 

THE     GOVERNMENT     OF     THE     TONGUE     CONSIDERED     IN     ITS 

RELATION    TO    THE    DISCIPLINE    OF    AFFLICTION,  .  40 


IV  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    VI. 

THE  DUTY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  TONGUE  OBLIGA- 
TORY IN  PUBLIC  AS  IN  PRIVATE  AFFLICTION,  AND 
SPECIALLY    URGED    ON    THE    CHRISTIAN    CHURCH,  .  52 

CHAPTER    VII. 

THE   RIGHT    USE   OF   THE   TONGUE,  .....  99 


THE  RIGHT  USE  OF  SPEECH. 


The  common  practice  of  recommending  any  moral 
quality  of  action  independently  of  its  relation  to  the 
Gospel  scheme  of  reformation,  is,  in  the  writer's 
judgment,  of  doubtful  value.  Virtues,  as  they  were 
called  under  the  old  philosophy.  Christian  graces,  as  in 
their  fuller  manifestation  they  are  styled  by  the  truer 
modern  theory,  are  but  the  partial  expression  of  a 
change  of  mental  condition — a  development  in  special 
directions  of  Christian  faith  and  love.  It  was  the 
fashion  of  the  essayists  of  the  last  century  to  discourse 
freely  and,  for  ourselves  we  must  admit,  wearisomely, 
concerning  candor,  sincerity,  prudence,  fortitude,  and 
the  like.  We  much  question  whether  by  the  many 
labored  tributes  to  these  excellent  qualities,  though 

1* 


6  THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH. 

rendered  often  in  a  cliasteness  of  style  and  harmony  of 
period  and  with  a  propriety  of  illustration  unsurpassed 
in  later  days,  and  which  still  in  a  measure  constitute 
the  standard  of  good  writing, — one  reader  has  become 
even  temporarily  more  sincere,  patient,  or  truthful. 
As  well  might  we  trim  and  train  the  branch  while  we 
neglect  the  root,  and  neither  dig  about  nor  water  the 
soil  that  covers  it.  The  human  philosophy  of  morals 
is  the  offspring  of  Christian  truth.  It  cannot  teach 
but  by  Gospel  method,  nor  exist  without  Gospel 
nourishment.  It  is  reserved  to  later  times,  to  the 
more  perfect  application  of  the  Christian  theory — to 
the  regulative  advance  of  which  alone  it  is  capable,  to 
discover  the  initiatory  step  in  all  moral  training.  No 
intellectual  conviction  of  the  value  of  moral  excellence, 
no  fastidious  taste  as  to  the  unity  and  proportion  of 
moral  exhibition,  no  good  desire  or  well  directed  pur- 
pose will  of  itself  conduct  moral  education  or  ac- 
complish moral  reformation. 

We  find  a  confirmation  of  these  sentiments  in  an 
address  of  Dr.  Chalmers  to  the  people  of  his  parish 
of    Kilmany.     "  I    cannot   but    record    the    efiect   of 


THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH.  7 

an  actual  though  undesigned  experiment  which  I 
prosecuted  for  upwards  of  twelve  years  among  you. 
For  the  greater  part  of  that  time  I  could  expatiate  on 
the  meanness  of  dishonesty,  on  the  villany  of  falsehood, 
*  *  *  *  and  could  I  upon  the  strength  of  these  warm 
expostulations  have  got  the  thief  to  give  up  his  steal- 
ing, and  the  evil  speaker  his  censoriousness,  T  should 
have  felt  all  the  repose  of  one  who  had  gotten  his 
ultimate  object.  *  *  *  *  /  am  not  sensible  that  all 
the  vehemence  10 ith  lohich  I  urged  the  virtues  and  pro- 
prieties of  social  life,  had  the  loeight  of  a  feather  on 
the  moral  habits  of  my  parishioners.''  He  goes  on  to 
say  in  substance,  that  it  was  not  till  he  became  im- 
pressed with  the  utter  alienation  of  all  the  heart's 
desires  and  affections  from  God,  and  took  the  Scriptural 
way  of  laying  the  method  of  reconciliation  before  his 
people,  that  he  ever  heard  of  the  subordinate  reform^a- 
tions  which  were  the  ultimate  object  of  his  earlier 
ministrations. 

A  popular  author,  discussing  the  art  of  essay  writ- 
ing, describes  two  opposed  schools  in  Essay.  The  one 
argues  for   a  specific   proposition ;    the   other   places 


8  THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH. 

before  the  reader  the  thoughts  and  sentiments  of  an 
individual  mind.  To  the  many  gradations  in  which 
both  modes  are  more  or  less  exhibited,  he  gives  the 
name  of  Mixed  Essay.  We  are  inclined  to  believe 
that  in  this  class  of  writing  the  mixed  essay  would  be 
generally  more  available  for  the  estimate  of  truth,  if 
the  logical  system  of  the  one  school,  and  the  person- 
ality or  subjective  character  of  the  other,  could  be 
brought,  as  it  has  scarcely  yet  been,  into  a  well- 
adjusted  balance.  No  attempt  has  been  made  in  the 
following  pages  to  conform  to  any  such  precedent,  or 
to  adhere  to  a  formal  method  of  discussion.  The 
statement  of  the  writer's  views  with  regard  to  the 
mode  of  urging  any  portion  of  Christian  duty,  may 
however  account  for,  and  possibly  justify,  some  seem- 
ingly wide  departures  from  the  strict  line  of  argument. 
Truth,  more  especially  religious  truth,  which  indeed 
in  its  fullest  sense  comprehends  all  truth,  is  but  a 
succession  of  links,  and  we  cannot  take  up  one  without 
discerning  and  handling  another.  The  enlightened 
philosopher,  in  pursuit  of  one  class  of  facts,  will  not 
reject  the  occurrent  signs  that  indicate  or  interpret 


THE   RIGHT   USE   OF   SPEECH.  9 

some  new  phenomenon.  It  is  not  invariably  over  the 
high  road  and  beaten  track  that  we  arrive  most  surely 
at  the  end  of  our  journey.  If  we  but  keep  our  special 
object  in  view,  we  may  enter  at  will  into  shaded  and 
unnoticed  by-paths,  refresh  ourselves  at  springs  hidden 
from  ordinary  wayfarers,  and  gather  many  a  flower  set 
in  no  human  classification,  but  known  and  cared  for 
by  Him  who  arrayed  it  in  all  its  beauty.  With 
softened  hearts  and  expanded  minds,  with  new  desire 
and  elastic  step,  we  shall  go  forward  on  our  way,  and, 
it  may  be,  reach  the  end  sooner  than  by  a  dull,  listless 
plodding  along  a  less  diversified  though  shorter  path. 
Human  history,  as  also  man's  unwritten  experience, 
combines  with  all  material  creation  to  furnish  the 
philosophy  we  have  need  to  learn — the  lesson  of 
wonderful  adaptation  in  all  physical  and  spiritual  being, 
and  thence  of  its  Author's  wisdom  and  benevolence.  In 
natural  as  in  moral  science  the  most  diverse  and  appa- 
rently opposing  facts  reveal  similar  principles.  Laws 
that  regulate  the  motions  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  are 
traced  also  in  the  instinctive  operations  of  the  bee  and 
the   beaver ;    and    the   most  wonderful   mysteries   of 


10  THE    RIGHT    USE   OF    SPEECH. 

animal  life  are  shadowed  forth  in  the  origin  and  de- 
velopment of  the  plant. 

The  subject  is  offered  to  the  consideration  of  the 
reader  with  the  sentiment  of  an  old  author,  altered  in 
two  or  three  words  the  better  to  express  our  feeling : 
"  If  I  could  light  you  but  the  least  step  towards  the 
happinesse  you  ayme  at,  how  happy  should  I  be  !  Goe 
forward  on  the  right  way,  wherein,  if  my  hand  cannot 
lead  you,  my  heart  shall  follow  you ;  and  where  the 
weaknesse  of  my  power  shews  defect,  there  the  earnest- 
ness of  my  petition  shall  make  supply." 


CHAPTER   I. 

THE  INTELLECTUAL     INFLUENCE    OF     THE     GOVERNMENT 
OF  THE  TONGUE. 

Language  is  to  thought  what  life  is  to  the  body. 
This  may  be  perfect  in  structure  and  in  functional 
adaptation,  but  without  the  animate  principle  it  is 
inert  and  useless.  Without  words  thought  perishes. 
Inadequate  as  it  often  proves,  no  other  mode  of 
expression  can  at  all  compare  with  speech.  Coun- 
tenance and  gesture  are  vehicles  of  thought,  but 
their  capacity  and  scope  are  limited.  The  power 
of  language  is  in  proportion  to  the  development  of 
conception,  or,  to  speak  more  simply,  consists  in 
the  perfectness  of  the  correspondence  between 
the  sign  and  thing  signified.  Singularly,  there  is 
an  inverse  working  of  language  on  the  thought  of 
which  it  is  the  creature.     There  is  necessarily  in 


12  THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH. 

words  an  analysis  and  generalization  of  concep- 
tions ;  and  the  more  subtile  the  analysis,  the  more 
accurate  the  generalization,  and  the  more  perfect 
become  the  ratiocination  and  induction. 

It  is  not  possible,  even  in  the  case  of  a  mind 
disciphned  to  careful  observation  of  its  trains  of 
thought,  to  review  the  mental  process  of  an  hour 
without  wondering  at  the  variety,  irrelativity,  and 
even  incongruity  of  its  constituting  conceptions. 
The  laws  of  association, — resemblance,  contrast, 
and  contiguity,  extend  over  so  wide  a  sphere,  that 
many  even  of  such  conceptions  as  are  distinctly 
referable  to  them  are  lost  from  the  series,  beyond 
hope  of  recovery.  When,  as  is  often  the  case,  the 
application  of  the  law  is  too  delicate  for  analysis, 
there  is  presented  a  mass  of  disconnected  and  un- 
available conceptions.  But  so  far  as  language^ 
can  effect — itself  the  gathered  product  of  thought 
since  the  creation — these  scattered  materials  are 
collected  and  adapted.    It  is  for  speech  to  take  and 


THE   RIGHT   USE   OF   SPEECH.  13 

apply  of  them  what  is  suited  to  our  own  and  others' 
needs.  How  much  for  intellectual  discipline  and 
for  moral  obligation  is  to  be  reserved — nay,  how 
much  is  it  wholly  impossible  to  reproduce !  Some 
one  says,  "Man  is  greatest  by  his  unuttered  things;" 
and  we  believe  he  is  also  by  them  meanest  and 
worst,  for  the  act  never  fully  developes  or  measures 
the  mental  operation  that  occasioned  it.  The 
cultivation  of  the  power  of  analysis  and  its  in- 
creasing facility  of  application  to  our  own  thoughts, 
is  then  the  intellectual  result  of  that  control  over 
language  which  is  commonly  called  government  of 
the  tongue.  To  language  is  given  the  influence 
over  thought  which  Quintillian  ascribes  to  the 
pen,  when  he  urges  the  importance  of  revision  and 
correction.  "  It  is  not  without  cause  that  the 
pen  is  deemed  not  least  effective  when  it  erases. 
Its  office  indeed  is  to  add,  remove,  change.  What 
is  pufl'ed  up  is  to  be  compressed ;  what  is  humble 
to  be  elevated ;  the  overrunning  is  to  be  bound 


14  THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH, 

together,  the  unsystematized  arranged,  the  excess- 
ive restrained,  and  solved  questions  set  aside.  For 
both  things  are  to  be  condemned  even  though 
they  please,  and  seized  when  they  would  escape.*" 
It  will  be  readily  perceived  how  extensive  and 
important  is  the  influence  of  a  right  use  of  speech 
on  our  purely  intellectual  operations.  But  it  is 
a  moral  and  religious  influence  which  we  chiefly 
propose  to  discuss.  In  presenting  our  views,  we 
turn,  as  both  in  the  formation  and  expression  of 
opinion  we  would  ever  do,  to  the  word  of  God, 
there  to  find  example  and  precept  for  the  duty 
which  we  urge  upon  the  conscience  of  the  reader. 

*  De  Emendatione,  Lib.  x.  Cap.  4. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  EXAMPLE  OF  DAVID  IN  RESPECT  OF  THE  GOVERN- 
MENT OF  THE  TONGUE, 

"I  WILL  take  heed  to  my  ways,"  said  David, 
"that  I  sin  not  with  my  tongue  :"  and  again,  "  I 
am  purposed  that  my  mouth  shall  not  transgress." 
The  moral  nature  of  this  King  of  Israel  was  deve- 
loped by  most  singular  and  opposite  influences. 
Hence  it  presents  to  us  such  diverse  aspects  that 
we  seem  to  behold  in  him  two  dissimilar  indivi- 
duals, or,  at  least,  as  in  a  Roman  consul,  the 
manifestation  in  the  same  man  of  a  double  and 
differing  being.*  These  contrasts  are  discernible 
not  only  in  the  record  of  his  actions,  but  in  that 
which  he  has  himself  left  of  his  thoughts  and 

* in  eodem  homine  duplicis  ac  diversissimi  animi  conspi- 

ceretur  exeniplum. 


16  THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH. 

feelings.  In  those  compositions  full  of  gracious 
tempers,  heavenly  meditations,  and  intensest  de- 
sires after  holiness  and  God,  we  find  in  strange 
and  rapid  alternation  exultant  outpourings  of  his 
inward  peace,  and  expressions  of  deepest  self- 
humiliation  and  anguish  of  spirit.  We  observe  his 
determination  to  wash  his  hands  in  innocency,  and 
his  boast  that  the  Lord  hath  recompensed  him  ac- 
cording to  his  righteousness,  and  to  the  cleanness 
of  his  hands.  But  soon  that  confidence  is  changed 
into  the  penitence  of  "a  broken  and  contrite 
heart;"  for  those  hands  are  stained  with  the  blood 
of  an  injured  and  innocent  man,  and  the  sinning 
monarch,  like  the  humble  disciple  in  after  time,  has 
need  to  seek  more  than  a  partial  cleansing, — to 
be  washed  throughly  from  his  iniquity,  and  to  be 
purged  from  a  pollution  far  more  pervading  and  re- 
volting than  the  ceremonial  uncleanness  of  a  Jewish 
leper.  Again,  his  hot  indignation  against  him  that 
maketh  deceit,  worketh  mischief,  and  telleth  lies. 


THE    RIGHT   USE   OP   SPEECH.  17 

and  his  just  reprehension  of  Doeg  who  loved  "lying 
rather  than  to  speak  righteousness,"  give  place  to 
the  almost  despairing  and  seemingly  much  needed 
petition  :  "  Take  not  the  word  of  truth  utterly 
out  of  my  mouth."  At  one  period  we  mark  him 
following  hard  after  God,  waiting  on  him  all  the 
day,  and  receiving  in  Divine  guidance  and  teach- 
ing the  blessing  promised  to  the  meek ;  at  another, 
we  find  that  he  had  sunk  into  the  horrible  pit  and 
miry  clay  of  transgression,  his  soul  for  the  time 
being  gathered  with  sinners,  and  his  life  with 
bloody  men. 

But  from  the  particular  form  of  human  frailty 
in  which  he  was  determined  not  to  indulge, 
David's  history  indicates  that  he  was  singularly 
exempt.  Under  the  persecution  of  Saul,  the  re- 
bukes of  Nathan  and  Gad — and  that  these  were 
deserved  does  not  affect  unless  to  confirm  the 
position,  for  men  generally  most  angrily  resent 
the  merited  censure — under  the  bold  dealing  of  his 

2* 


18  THE   RIGHT   USE   OF   SPEECH. 

faithful  Joab,  the  curses  of  Shimei,  the  taunts  of 
the  daughter  of  Saul,  the  rebellion  of  Absalom, 
the  defection  of  Ahithophel  and  Hushai,  he  ex- 
hibits, as  the  occasion  demands,  a  calm  dignity,  a 
patient,  humble  demeanor,  and  a  penitent  readi- 
ness to  acknowledge  his  error  and  submit  to  the 
imposed  penalty.  We  observe  scarcely  a  token  of 
what  might  seem  a  pardonable  resentment,  much 
less  the  breaking  forth  of  his  well-bridled  lips  into 
any  retaliatory  utterance.  The  announcement  of 
Ahithophel's  desertion,  elicits  only  a  prayer  for 
the  defeat  of  his  counsel.  Tolerating  not  only, 
but  excusing  the  invective  of  Shimei,  he  makes 
this  touching  appeal  to  his  indignant  attend- 
ants :  "  Behold  my  son  which  came  forth  of  my 
bowels  seeketh  my  life :  how  much  more  now 
may  this  Benjamite  do  it  ?  let  him  alone,  and  let 
him  curse ;  for  the  Lord  hath  bidden  him."  And 
again,  his  "  eyes  ever  toward  the  Lord"  look  to 
him  with  the  trusting  expectation  that  "may  be  the 


THE   RIGHT   USE   OP   SPEECH.  19 

Lord  will  requite  me  good  for  his  cursing  this  day." 
In  the  matter  of  speech,  as  in  all  the  "ways" 
of  that  early  manhood  during  which  he  won  the 
heart  of  Israel,  we  cannot  resist  the  conclusion  that 
he  "  behaved  himself  wisely,"  and  that  "  the  Lord 
was  with  him"  no  less  in  the  carrying  out  of 
this  "purpose"  of  his  soul,  than  in  girding  him 
with  strength  to  battle,  and  subduing  under  him 
them  that  rose  up  against  him.  Perhaps  it  is  not 
to  be  excepted  to  the  usual  moderation  of  his 
practice  that  he  said  in  his  haste,  "AU  men  are 
liars,"  and  again,  "  I  am  cut  off  from  before  thine 
eyes ;"  for  singular  experience  had  been  appointed 
to  him  of  human  faithlessness  and  ingratitude,  and 
of  the  mysterious  and  often  apparently  conflict- 
ing dealings  of  Providence. 


CHAPTER   III. 

THE  INFLUENCE  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  TONGUE  ON 
CHRISTIAN  PROGRESS. 

"  So  great  a  way,"  remarks  Matthew  Henry, 
"  does  keeping  the  tongue  from  evil  go  in  religion, 
that  '  if  any  offend  not  in  Avord,  the  same  is  a  per- 
fect man;'  and  so  little  a  way  does  religion  go  with- 
out this,  that  it  is  said  respecting  him  who  hridles 
not  Ms  tongue,  '  his  religion  is  vain.'  "  Elsewhere, 
he  presents  the  same  thought  in  slightly  varying 
form,  remarking  how  great  an  attainment  is  this 
government  of  the  tongue,  since  the  man  who 
secures  it  is  a  "perfect"  man;  and  ]\o^N  needful, 
since  without  it  all  other  religion  is  "  vain."  If 
we  may  analyze  our  notion  of  Christian  training, 
considering  it  without  reference  to  the  agency  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  we  should  say  it  begins  with  self- 


THE    RIGHT    USE   OF    SrEECH.  21 

acquaintance  and  is  carried  on  by  Christian  action. 
The  heathen  philosophers  seem  to  us  to  have  had 
the  germ  of  this  view  when  they  pronounced  their 
first  maxim,  "  Knoiv  thyself ;'  and  when  they  made 
moral  rectitude  to  consist  in  Iking  according  to 
nature,  understood  by  some,  nature  in  general,  or 
the  eternal  fitness  of  things,  and  by  others,  the 
nature  of  man  in  its  most  perfect  model  or  con- 
ception. Applying  the  doctrine  in  his  own  mode, 
the  Christian  philosopher  understands  Christian 
rectitude  to  be  in  theory  a  conformity  to  the 
nature  of  man  as  it  came  from  the  Creator,  com- 
plete in  all  physical,  moral,  and  intellectual  en- 
dowments— man  in  the  image  of  God.  But  as  by 
the  introduction  of  sin  into  the  world  that  standard 
could  no  longer  exist,  another  was  provided  in  the 
new  if  fainter  type  of  Divine  excellence  which  is 
displayed  in  the  regenerate  nature  of  man. 

Self-acquaintance  is  not  acquired  as  the  child 
acquires  the  knowledge  of   the  objects  of  per- 


22  THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH. 

ception.  Mutable  alike  in  aspect  and  relation, 
self  demands  an  ever  new  adjustment  of  focus,  an 
ever  prompt  and  pursuant  attention.  Even  those 
natural  traits  of  character  which  are  in  a  sort  per- 
manent, are  powerfully  modified  by  continually 
supervening  influences,  and  the  self  of  one  period 
is  scarcely  recognizable  at  another.  The  whole 
system  of  conceptions,  reasonings,  and  consequent 
desires,  will,  and  emotions,  changes  frequently  in 
the  formative  processes  of  life ;  and  he  is  a  sagacious 
as  well  as  honest  seeker  after  self-knowledge  who 
marks  with  accuracy  the  varying  aspects  of  his  own 
mental  horizon,  and  discerns  now  in  shadow,  now 
in  light,  the  undulating  surface  of  the  world,  to  him- 
self so  vast,  of  his  own  thought  and  emotion.  Man's 
self-acquaintance  is  a  series  of  observations,  experi- 
ments, and  we  might  add  of  mistakes  and  failures, 
except  that  these  apparently  negative  results  con- 
duce also  to  the  desired  end.  It  is  not  possible, 
we  believe,  to  secure  or  preserve  such  needful 


THE   RIGHT   USE   OF    SPEECH.  23 

knowledge  of  self  without  a  habit  of  thought- 
fulness,  of  introversion,  as  it  is  often  called, 
without  a  watchfulness  over  the  effect  of  all  new 
outward  influences,  without  a  mental  measuring 
line  held  ever  ready  in  the  hand.  The  attention 
so  employed  cannot  be  expended  on  objects  which 
bear  no  relation  to  self-culture ;  and  such  a  habit 
of  mind  precludes  the  expression  of  imperfect 
conceptions  and  of  immature  or  undisciplined 
thought.  Next  to  reliance  on  Divine  grace,  the 
most  perfect  aid  to  self-acquaintance  is  this  watch- 
fulness over  the  inner  as  well  as  the  outer  man, 
this  frequent  withdrawing  of  one  from  the  com- 
panionship of  the  other,  this  survey,  as  from  the 
hill-top  of  consciousness,  of  both  internal  economy 
and  external  conduct.  Scarcely  less  careful  should 
be  the  scrutiny  to  which  the  mental  operations  of 
others,  so  far  as  they  can  be  traced,  are  subjected. 
The  mature  man  may  learn  much  wisdom  from 
observing  the  usually  natural  and  therefore  true 


24  THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH. 

conditions  of  the  child's  utterance.  In  many  in- 
stances, the  most  inexplicable  moral  phenomena  to 
him,  are  considered  in  wondering  silence,  and  the 
stronger  emotions,  or  rather  those  not  subject  to 
frequent  excitement,  remain  without  expression, 
often  vrithout  any  form  of  exhibition.  Thus  are  ga- 
thered within  the  soul  the  seeds  of  after-thought 
which  would  perish  scattered  unskilfully  and  in 
unselected  soil.  A  hasty,  unthinking  communica- 
tion of  the  mysteries  of  his  consciousness  is  more 
rare  in  the  thoughtful  child  than  in  the  man ;  and 
how  serious  an  evil  does  it  introduce  into  the  moral 
being  of  the  man !  The  dew,  the  blush,  the  down — 
illustrate  as  you  will  the  simplicity  and  purity  of 
many  involuntary  sentiments — is  dried,  faded, 
brushed  away  by  this  exposure  to  the  glare  of 
day  and  the  touch  of  each  passer-by.  In  all  that 
pertains  to  Christian  self-examination — that  ex- 
amination which  is  not  simply  the  result  of  a  few 
minutes  or  even  hours  of  thought,  nor  merely  an 


THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH.  25 

interval  employment  of  the  mind,  but  its  unremit- 
ted side-work,  prosecuted  through  all  occupations, 
in  all  scenes — how  little  is  there  which  is  suitable 
for  expression !  Could  we  invariably  present  to  our 
fellow-man  the  ripe,  instead  of,  as  commonly,  the 
immature  fruits  of  our  self-culture ;  could  we  from 
our  inward  searching  bring  forth  without  fail 
that  hid  treasure  of  practical  wisdom  which  were 
available  to  human  progress,  there  would  be  a 
reason  and  value  in  free  expression  and  even  in 
full  self-revelation.  But,  as  it  is,  those  fruits  are 
perfected  only  after  long,  careful,  assiduous  culti- 
vation; and  we  may  not,  in  our  digging  for  the 
pure  gold,  pause  to  discuss  either  the  wearisome- 
ness  of  our  toil  or  the  prospect  of  reward.  That 
which  is  good  for  moral  instruction  is  best  con- 
veyed by  actions,  which  are  as  much  the  re- 
sult of  thought  as  are  words.  Recent  impressions, 
no  matter  how  well  defined,  must  bear  the  friction 
of  other  influences  before  they  can  be  deemed  in- 


26  THE    RIGHT    USE   OF    SPEECH. 

effaceable,  or  remain  permanent  signs  in  plastic 
and  developing  minds.  Some  Christian  graces 
are  only  moderately  dependent  for  their  growth 
and  vigor  on  intercourse  with  men.  Others  perish 
without  such  nurture  as  active,  human,  or  social 
life  perpetually  affords.  Bodily  exercise  in  this 
sense  often  profiteth  much.  Humility  towards 
God  is  the  state  of  mind  which  ensues  on  a  com- 
parison of  self  with  God  and  the  standard  of  his 
law ;  and  Avhat  has  man  to  do  with  this  portion  of 
our  Christian  work?  Humility  with  regard  to 
man  is  still  the  same  mental  act — a  comparison  of 
self  with  a  standard  of  human  excellence — and 
still  what  have  men  to  do  with  the  personal  result 
which  is  thus  worked  out?  Long-suffering,  gen- 
tleness, meekness,  may  be  called  silent  virtues, 
and  are  displayed  rather  by  what  is  left  unsaid 
and  undone. 

Plainly,  in  this  world,  which  is  our  sphere  of 
action  if  only  partially  that  of  thought,  a  plan  is 


THE   RIGHT   USE   OF    SPEECH.  27 

needed,  a  well  ordered  system  by  which  we  can 
best  do  good  to  man  and  glorify  God.  To  form 
and  maintain  this  scheme  of  life  needs  some  such 
continuousness  and  earnestness  of  attention  as  the 
commander  of  a  fleet,  in  dangerous  seas,  gives  alike 
to  the  stormy  sky  and  the  tossed  and  straining  barks 
which  his  watchfulness  and  skill  alone  can  guide 
into  the  desired  haven.  To  know  self  for  the  pur- 
pose of  using  self  in  the  mode  appointed  by  God — 
to  use  it  by  action  and  inaction,  by  silence  and 
speech,  in  all  intellectual  operations,  in  all  emotional 
excitements,  to  the  end  of  his  glory  and  the  good 
of  our  fellow  men — this  is  what  is  given  us  to  do. 
We  are,  therefore,  to  walk  with  our  God  softly — 
carefully,  considerately,  reverently  concerning  him 
and  the  eternal  truths  which  he  has  revealed.  We 
are  to  walk  as  those  who  have  an  earnest  purpose, 
who  "  seek  a  country,"  not  as  those  who  saunter 
along  in  a  pleasant  path,  intent  only  on  repose 
and  recreation.     Neither  a  ready,  frequent,  noisy 


28  THE    RIGHT    USE   OF    SPEECH. 

mirth,  nor  the  vain  babblings  that  belong  to  the 
idiot  or  child,  rather  than  to  the  man  whose  nature 
and  destiny  are  so  wonderfully  mysterious  and 
solemn,  whose  being  extends  to  unknown  modes 
of  existence,  and  whose  relations  are  chiefly  to 
the  Infinite  and  Divine ;  neither  the  wrangling  of 
envy,  the  boasting  of  jDride,  nor  the  repining  of 
discontent,  can  characterize  the  utterance  of  the 
Christian  disciple  who  apprehends  what  is  in- 
volved in  his  relation  to  the  great  Teacher.  To 
learn  fully,  that  he  may  see  clearly,  and  communi- 
cate rightly,  describes  his  duty  and  his  mission; 
and  his  reward  of  successful  working  is  in  pro- 
portion to  his  perseverance  of  endeavor  to  obtain 
the  knowledge  and  perform  the  will  of  God.  The 
varying  practice  of  Christians — the  flickering  and 
dimness  of  that  light  which  should  diffuse  itself 
abroad  as  well  as  penetrate  the  dark  corners  of 
their  own  hearts,  is,  if  we  do  not  mistake,  largely 
owing  to  a  forsaking  of  the  humility  and  docility 


THE   RIGHT   USE   OF   SPEECH.  29 

of  discipleship,  an  aspiring  to  teach  what  is  not 
fully  learned,  an  incautious  handling  of  weighty 
truths,  and  a  rash  utterance  of  thoughts  unsys- 
tematized by  prayer  or  study  of  the  Scriptures. 
Words  conveying  some  already  current,  approved 
train  of  thought,  take  the  place  of  new  inquiry,  of 
continuous  and  laborious  investigation  into  the  in- 
exhaustible storehouse  of  truth ;  and  that  which 
in  its  own  sphere  would  be  significant  and  valu- 
able, becomes  in  other  and  unsuitable  application 
incorrect  and  injurious.  If  progress  in  Christian 
knowledge  and  in  self-culture  is  thus  retarded  by 
an  imperfect  apprehension  and  careless  utterance 
of  Scripture  doctrine,  no  less  do  these  diminish 
the  efficiency  of  Christian  effort.  By  thoughtful 
observation,  by  cautious  comparison  alone,  do  we 
gain  any  available  acquaintance  with  our  fellow 
men.  It  is  only  by  an  accurate,  a  /mz'r  line  mea- 
suring, so  to  speak,  of  their  impulses,  motives, 
abilities,  and  of  all  forming  influences,  physical, 

3» 


30  THE    RIGHT   USE    OF    SPEECH. 

moral,  social,  and  educational,  so  far  as  they  can 
be  discovered,  that  we  form  any  estimate  of  the 
magnitude  and  resistance  of  that  fabric  of  false 
opinions  and  sinful  practice  which  we  seek  to  over- 
turn by  the  mighty  lever  of  Christian  teaching 
and  example.  From  communion  with  our  own 
souls  and  with  God  springs  the  self-acquaint- 
ance which  humbles  but  to  elevate,  which  reveals 
only  to  remove  the  corruption  within,  and  refines 
a  base  and  earthly  mixture  into  the  pure  gold  of 
a  God-seeking,  loving,  and  trusting  spirit.  From 
the  same  communion  with  self  and  with  our 
Maker  springs  also  a  right  judgment  and  com- 
passionate consideration  of  others  which  discovers 
their  need,  stimulates  to  efforts  after  its  suj^ply, 
and  cherishes  the  yearning  to  be  in  regard  of  our 
fellow  men  co-workers  with  God,  and,  in  confir- 
mation of  the  Saviour's  test,  to  evince  our  love  to 
him  by  a  faithful  and  abiding  love  to  one  another. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  INFLUENCE  OP  THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  TONGUE  ON 
PERSONAL  HAPPINESS. 

Few  virtues  were  in  the  ancient  ethics  more  in- 
sisted on  than  patience,  or,  in  its  highest  exercise, 
fortitude.  In  Roman  speech,  he  only  was  a  man 
who  had  strength  or  bravery,  and  this  was  dis- 
played by  both  Greek  and  Roman  models  of 
human  excellence,  as  much  by  endurance  as  by 
action.  The  good  soldier,  both  in  heathen  and  in 
Christian  times,  must  "  endure  hardness,"  as  well 
as  be  valiant  in  conflict.  The  Lacedemonian  and 
American  Indian  received  a  severe  training  in 
varied  modes  of  bodily  torture ;  and  suffering  of 
any  sort  had  few  terrors  for  those  who  in  extremes 
of  hunger  and  thirst,  by  burning  brand,  rack,  and 
thong,  had  trained  their  flesh  to  an  unwincing, 


6Z  THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH. 

unquivering  submission,  and  their  spirits  to  an 
imperturbable  composure.  To  suffer  and  be  still,  is 
the  dictate  of  common  sense,  the  counsel  of  human 
experience,  and  the  teaching  alike  of  philosophy 
and  of  Christianity.  The  precept  of  patience  and 
the  promise  of  its  reward,  run  an  unbroken  thread 
through  the  history  and  the  doctrine  of  Scripture. 
"  I  was  dumb,  I  opened  not  my  mouth  because 
Thou  didst  it," — seems  the  practice  of  most  of  the 
holy  men  whose  record  has  reached  us,  and  is  one 
of  the  first  instincts  of  the  renewed  heart.  Swift 
on  the  performance  of  the  duty  ensues  the  reward, 
— a  reward  not  of  the  heart's  desire,  perhaps,  but 
of  inward  healing,  of  calmness  and  confidence,  of 
the  peace  that  proceeds  only  from  trust  in  God 
and  submission  to  his  will,  and  which  is  beyond 
question  a  peace  which  passe th  all  understanding. 
The  unbelieving  may  cavil  at  the  possibility  of 
such  a  peace,  or  recklessly  reject  the  hope  of  it; 
the   fearful   may  shrink  from   appropriating  the 


THE    RIGHT   USE   OF    SrEECH.  33 

fulness  of  its  blessing;  but  there  is  a  credible  testi- 
mony that  the  gift  divine  is  freely  proffered,  and 
a  sure  witness  within,  that  it  brings  down  to  this 
cold  and  sad,  this  dark  and  empty  world  the 
glorious  light  of  God's  love,  the  heaven  of  never- 
ending  fellowship  with  him  and  his  Son  Jesus 
Christ. 

The  affliction  whether  of  body  or  mind,  for 
which  no  immediate  relief  can  be  obtained,  should 
be,  if  what  we  have  urged  has  force,  sparingly 
discussed  with  our  fellow-men,  and  fully  commu- 
nicated only  to  God.  From  him  the  sufferer  may 
receive  a  s]3eedy  relief — the  undelayed  bestowal, 
According  to  your  faith  he  it  unto  you  ;  and  will  re- 
ceive, if  it  be  rightly  sought,  the  grace  sufficient 
for  a  calm  and  even  cheerful  endurance.  Abstract 
from  the  severer  forms  of  affliction,  blind,  dis- 
trustful apprehension,  undue  or  false  sympathy, 
imperfect  or  groundless  consolation,  unsuitable 
comment,   and    exaggerated    estimate,    and   you 


34  THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH. 

diminish  in  no  small  measure  their  rigor.  There 
are  minor  evils  which  suffer  a  like  aggravation  in 
the  process  of  unrestrained  or  otherwise  indiscreet 
communication.  The  surprises  of  ill  temper, 
anger,  or  inordinate  joy;  the  irregularities  of  the 
more  ordinary  mental  states,  produced  not  only 
by  physical  conditions,  but  largely  by  scarcely 
recognizable  influences  which  do  not  come  within 
range  of  our  watchfulness,  or  under  the  rule  of 
our  self-discipline ;  the  rash  judgment,  the  incon- 
siderate action  which  has  discouraged  and  morti- 
fied us  by  its  unfortunate  results,  and  lessened 
our  reputation  for  prudence  and  sagacity;  the 
smaller  sins, — if  any  can  be  small — of  continual 
besetment  and  almost  unconscious  allowance, 
which  are  sources  of  ever-recurring  spiritual  de- 
clension and  humiliation, — little  foxes  which  spoil 
our  vines  and  hinder  us  from  gathering  the  tender 
grapes  of  our  long  culture  and  earnest  desire ; — 
these  and  kindred  causes  occasion  us  a  distress 


THE    RIGHT   USE   OF    SPEECH.  35 

in  which  we  are  restless  with  an  uneasiness  which 
sometimes  exceeds  that  of  graver  troubles.  Most 
men  take  refuge  from  such  tormenting  anxieties 
in  vehement  self-exculpation,  in  detailed  narration 
of  all  circumstances  that  contributed  to  their 
temptation  or  failure,  in  complaints  of  their  luck^ 
their  friends,  their  health,  or  their  early  teaching. 
They  lay  themselves  open  to  the  not  always  atten- 
tive, just,  or  kind  observation  of  uncaring  fellow- 
men,  and  intensify  the  effect  of  their  one  error  by 
a  weak,  vague  declamation  in  relation  to  it,  which 
evinces  small  acquaintance  with  its  real  cause, 
and  still  less  energy  of  purjDOse  to  guard  against 
its  recurrence.  But  it  is  better  that  with  the 
dead  past  should  be  buried,  so  far  as  the  tongue's 
office  of  revival  is  concerned,  its  mistakes,  misfor- 
tunes, and  sins.  Better  that  into  the  inner  place 
of  the  soul  none  but  the  Sanctifier  and  Comforter 
should  enter !  Restored  by  his  heahng,  refreshed 
and  gladdened  by  his  presence,  we  shall  be  re- 


36  THE    RIGHT    USE   OF    SPEECH. 

newed  in  tlie  spirit  of  our  minds,  shall  mount  in 
our  Christian  flight  as  on  eagles'  wings,  shall  walk 
and  not  faint  in  these  earthly  paths,  aye,  7'un  and 
not  be  weary  in  the  "way  of  God's  commandments. 
But  in  urging  the  strict  government  of  the 
tongue,  we  would  not  be  understood  to  argue 
against  the  indulgence  of  a  legitimate  desire,  or  to 
object  in  any  measure  to  the  exercise  and  enjoy- 
ment of  that  sympathy,  the  accordance  of  which 
is  no  less  an  injunction  of  Scripture  than  the  in- 
satiable craving  of  our  nature.  Who  can  fully 
describe,  how  few  can  adequately  estimate  the 
preciousness,  the  solace,  the  culture,  the  spii'itual 
sustenance  of  that  rarely  acquired  treasure,  a 
friend!  We  use  not  the  word  in  its  ordinary,  still 
less,  in  its  poetical  and  usually  fanciful  significa- 
tion. We  use  it  to  denote  the  impersonation  of 
some  measure  of  the  same  truth  and  faithfulness, 
the  same  wisdom,  patience,  charitableness,  and 
tenderness  which  characterized  the  best  of  friends 


THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH.  37 

— Him  who  more  than  all  others  deserves  the 
name.  And  if  in  the  orderings  of  our  heavenly 
Father  the  fulness  of  such  blessing  be  denied, — 
if  we  never  find  or  claim  the  heart  which  answer- 
eth  to  our  heart,  if  the  "  electric  chain  wherewith 
we  are  quickly  bound"  kindle  from  our  burning 
thought  and  emotion  no  spark  within  those  who 
stand  around  us ;  still  how  sweet  is  the  commonest 
fellow-feeling,  how  does  the  heart  swell  at  the 
most  ordinary  tones  of  kindness,  and  how  do  the 
nerves  thrill  at  the  slightest  pressure  of  the  sym- 
pathizing hand !  God,  if  we  have  read  his  word 
aright,  made  us  not  for  himself  alone,  nor  for  our- 
selves, but  for  each  other.  Bear  ye  then  one 
another's  burdens  of  sin,  of  sorrow,  and  of  toil,  and 
so  fulfil  not  only  the  law  of  Christ,  but  the  evident 
intention  of  your  being : — "The  Lord  God  said.  It 
is  not  good  that  the  man  should  be  alone ;  I  will 
make  him  an  helpmeet  for  him."  But  beware  lest 
you  add  to  these  burdens,  lest  you  endeavor  to 


38  THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH. 

relieve  yourself  of  your  appointed  portion,  by 
transferring  it  in  the  form  of  complaint,  exaggera- 
tion, recrimination,  foreboding,  or  distrust.  You 
think  that  you  cannot  bear  your  wounded  spirit, 
and  with  singular  inconsistency  you  tear  open  the 
bleeding  gaps,  and  subjecting  them  to  unskilful 
human  handling,  too  often  cause  them  to  pour  out 
afresh  and  in  A^ain  the  current  of  your  life.  Rather 
sustain  your  infirmity  with  the  blessed  aid  and 
healing  that  God  imparts,  and  which  is  to  be  ob- 
tained by  study  of  his  word,  and  prayerful,  sub- 
missive application  of  its  teaching  and  promises. 

Pious  friends  may,  by  their  own  fuller  experience 
and  riper  self  culture,  stay  us  in  the  day  of  failing 
strength  and  courage ;  but  their  only  available 
sources  of  consolation  spring  from  the  one  great 
fountain  whence  we  must  draw  for  ourselves  or 
thu'st  forever.  And  in  their  offered  draughts 
there  is  too  often  the  admixture  of  worldly 
cordials  which  are  poison  to  the  soul,  even  if  they 


THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH.  39 

yield  a  temporary  cooling  and  alleviation.  In  the 
day  of  your  weakness,  "  cease  ye  from  man ;"  or  if 
you  lean  on  him,  let  it  be  but  lightly,  as  on  the 
reed  which  at  any  moment  may  fail  under  the 
pressure  and  pierce  the  hand  that  rests  on  it. 


CHAPTER   V. 

THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  TONGUE  CONSIDERED  IN  ITS 
RELATION  TO  THE  DISCIPLINE  OF  AFFLICTION. 

We  are  not  of  those  who  hold  that  all  sufFering 
is,  in  a  spiritual  view,  punitive.  It  may  have  no 
retrospective  bearing,  and  be  in  the  way  of  train- 
ing and  warning.  Again,  the  laws  of  our  being 
are  other  than  moral,  and  the  infraction  of  any  one 
law  incurs  a  penalty  correspondent  with  the  class 
to  which  it  belongs.  Physical  penalties  guard 
physical  laws,  and  intellectual  confusion  is  the  re- 
sult of  want  of  accordance  with  ascertained  laws 
of  mind.  Sin,  it  is  true,  pervades  every  part  of 
our  nature,  and  to  no  portion  of  that  nature  are  its 
consequences  confined.  But  we  claim  that  much 
of  the  sufFering  which  seems,  in  its  universality  and 
continuance,  almost  our  normal  condition,  cannot 


THE   RIGHT   USE    OF    SPEECH.  41 

reasonably  be  viewed  as  the  expression  of  God's 
indignation.  Nor  need  we,  by  an  unwarranted  and 
strained  interpretation  of  his  orderings,  add  weight 
to  burdens  which  already  are  heavier  than,  without 
his  special  aid,  we  are  able  to  bear. 

The  benefit  of  that  which  the  sense  of  sin — 
"the  law  of  God  written  in  our  hearts,"  or  the  ap- 
plied tests  of  Scripture  pronounce  to  be  punitive 
suffering,  is  mainly  dependent  on  the  mode  in  which 
it  is  endured.  No  advantage,  or,  at  most,  an  ex- 
traneous and  irrelevant  one,  accrues  to  the  child 
from  punishment,  simply  considered.  It  is  only 
when  the  child  recognizes  the  affection  of  the 
parent,  the  wisdom  of  his  law,  and  the  folly  and 
danger  of  opposition  to  it,  that  the  proposed  end 
of  punishment  is  gained,  and  the  work  of  reforma- 
tion commenced  in  the  heart.  Let  us  dwell  awhile 
on  the  process  which,  from  childhood  under  pa- 
rental, and  through  manhood  to  old  age,  under 
social  and  divine  law,  we  continually  pass  through. 


42  THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH. 

till  death  frees  us  from  a  body  of  sin  and  a  world 
of  imperfection  and  corruption. 

In  the  natural  state  of  man,  the  objects  of  moral 
perception  are  unperceived  and  unarranged.  The 
mind,  inert  from  this  ignorance  or  indifference  and 
only  stimulated  by  the  false  and  flitting  light  of 
its  own  instincts,  cannot  struggle  forward  through 
a  clogged  and  obscure  pathway  to  the  distant 
opening  which  reveals  the  space  and  brightness 
beyond.  But  when  it  is  once  brought  by  the 
agency  of  the  Holy  Spirit  within  the  radiant 
circle  of  truth,  all  things  assume  to  it  their  real 
position,  and  consequently  their  true  proportion ; 
and  there  arises  a  sense  of  ignorance  and  delu- 
sion which  expands  into  a  consciousness  of  sinful 
indifference  to  truth  and  right.  Hence  ensues 
a  never  ending  conflict  with  that  wilfully  blind 
and  perverse  self,  which  has  so  long  held  the 
mastery,  an  agreement  with  the  true  lav/  of  being 
and  internal  confirmation  of  its  justice,  and   a 


THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH.  43 

readiness  to  undergo  the  penalty  it  imposes.  By 
this  willing  submission  and  patient  endurance, 
there  are  obtained  a  leisure  time  of  the  soul,  a 
separation  from  the  scene  of  its  mad  riot  and 
tumult,  a  calm,  careful  examination  of  past  acts 
and  estimate  of  their  consequences,  which  induces 
a  disinclination  to  return  to  the  darkness — the 
"  mire  and  slime "  of  worldly  and  godless  life,  and 
a  turning  of  mind  from  error  to  truth,  and  from  sin 
to  purity.  By  the  blessing  of  the  Enlightener,  the 
soul  is  taught  to  discern  the  source  of  all  truth  and 
purity,  and,  from  abstract  and  not  always  fully  per- 
ceived qualities,  to  go  on  to  the  apprehension  of 
a  personal,  living,  eternal,  and  unchanging  repre- 
sentation of  their  character  and  fulness.  Thus  it 
is  led  from  sin  to  God;  thus  begins  the  work  of 
submission ;  thus  proceeds  the  work  of  knowledge 
and  sanctification ;  thus  is  the  creature's  weakness 
made  perfect  in  the  Creator's  strength. 

If  we  have  accurately  represented  this  mental 


44  THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH. 

change  which  is  essential  to  all  permanent  outward 
reformation,  we  have  also  inferentially  presented 
the  duty  of  a  careful  use  of  all  means  which  God 
has  appointed  to  the  end,  and  more  definitely  the 
use  of  the  discipline  of  suffering  for  sin.  The  na- 
tural instinct  is  a  shrinking  from  it,  an  impatience 
to  escape  from  it,  or  to  shorten  the  term  of  its  en- 
durance. The  mouth  vents  the  abundance  of  the 
heart  in  meanings  and  complaints,  laments,  at  first 
naturally  and  not  sinfully,  the  adverse  and  pain- 
inflicting  agency,  and  finally  gives  utterance  to 
railings  against  the  conduct  of  others,  the  appoint- 
ments of  Providence,  and  of  course  to  self-assertion 
and  justification.  Thus,  we  have  the  inverse  work- 
ing of  the  law  of  punitive  discipline.  Self  is  ele- 
vated, not  abased,  and  rebellion  and  ingratitude 
hold  with  tumultuous  and  exhausting  occupancy 
their  dominion  over  the  heart.  Such  is  not  always, 
perhaps  not  commonly,  the  primary  state  of  the 
suffering  sinner;  but  the  brooding  of  the  spirit 


THE   RIGHT   USE   OF    SPEECH.  45 

over  the  evil,  the  morbid  and  inconsistent  discus- 
sion of  its  every  particular,  the  self-exaltation  to 
a  pre-eminence  in  grief,  to  a  claim  to  a  victim  and 
martyr-due  commiseration,  in  time  turn  the  mind 
from  considering  the  origin  of  its  distress,  and 
from  seeking  the  only  provision  for  relief.  We 
have  touched  on  this  subject  while  considering  the 
influence  of  the  government  of  the  tongue  on  per- 
sonal happiness ;  and  as  we  find  ourselves  brought 
to  the  same  point  in  pursuing  our  examination  of  its 
influence  on  spiritual  discipline,  we  are  constrained 
to  conclude  with  a  commentator  on  the  passage, 
"  the  fear  of  the  Lord  is  the  beginning  of  wisdom," 
that "  we  have  reason  to  praise  God  that  the  matter 
is  so  well  contrived,  that  our  reverence  of  him  and 
obedience  to  him  are  as  much  our  interest  as  they 
are  our  duty."  The  best  comfort,  the  most  perfect 
help  and  healing,  is  then  the  greatest  faithfulness 
in  thought,  word,  and  deed  to  the  service  of  God 
our  Father.     His  law,  "  added  because  of  trans- 


46  THE    RIGHT   USE    OF    SPEECH. 

gressions,"  is  designed  to  bring  us  to  Christ ;  and 
if  we  are  thus  brought,  and  obtain  blessed  faith  in 
him,  we  need  no  more  our  "  school-master,"  but 
are  "  the  children  of  God."  Plain,  precious  doc- 
trine, profitable  alike  for  our  instruction  and  con- 
solation !  Infinitely  precious  Saviour,  who  hath 
brought  this  life  in  him  by  faith  to  light  through 
the  Gospel! 

In  whatever  evil,  therefore,  we  receive  from  God, 
especially  in  such  as  we  deem  the  recompense  for 
transgression,  the  resulting  benefit  is  only  secured 
by  a  careful  viewing  of  our  sinfulness  and  alienation 
from  God,  of  his  right  to  deal  with  us  according 
to  his  own  pleasure,  and  of  our  utter  absence  of 
any  self-originating  claim  to  his  forbearance. 
Thus  are  formed  the  humility  and  patience  which 
constitute  the  true  dignity  of  man,  and  the  know- 
ledge is  imparted  both  of  his  worth  and  meanness, 
his  suffering  and  its  remedy,  his  want  and  its 
supply.     In  our  controversies  with  men,  there  is 


THE    RIGHT   USE   OF   SPEECH.  47 

ever  an  imperfect  settlement,  a  residue  of  embit- 
tered feeling,  of  wounded  pride,  of  uneasy  recol- 
lection. But  the  account,  if  we  may  so  speak,  is 
squared  in  our  transactions  with  God.  Submission 
and  repentance  are  the  terms  of  pardon,  and  the 
grace  bestowed  is  measureless  in  itself  and  bound- 
less in  its  scope.  If  you  have  the  spirit  of  the 
child  of  God,  not  only  will  you  submit  but  rejoice, 
not  after  the  natural  man  nor  carnally,  but  after 
the  spiritual  mode  we  have  endeavored  to  disclose 
to  you.  It  is  the  rejoicing  of  the  renewed  man, 
and,  by  a  beautiful  reflex  action,  the  more  joy,  the 
more  strength.  Here  then,  give  wings  to  your 
spirit !  Soar  higher  and  higher  yet !  No  fear  of 
failing  strength,  of  shadows  of  earthly  darkness, 
for  still  purer,  and  freer,  and  brighter  that  atmos- 
phere through  which  you  rise  to  the  source  of  light 
and  joy !  And  as  the  bird,  which  has  furnished 
our  illustration,  is  ever  singing  in  its  heavenward 
flight,  so  let  your  life  be  a  hymn  of  praise,  a  con- 
tinual outburst  of  thanksgiving  and  love. 


48  THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH. 

As  we  contemplate  these  blessed  possibilities — 
nay,  these  often  realized  delights  of  Christian  sub- 
mission and  trust,  how  do  we,  from  our  inmost 
souls,  repel  the  alternative  of  a  sullen  murmuring, 
or  of  outspoken  rebellion  against  the  wise  and 
merciful  decrees  of  our  Father  in  heaven  !  There 
are  workers  of  iniquity  who  boast  themselves, 
who  utter  and  speak  hard  things ;  but  "  blessed  is 
the  man  whom  thou  chastenest,  0  Lord,  and  teach- 
est  him-  out  of  thy  law  !" 

Brought  to  this  point  by  our  examination  of  the 
influence  of  the  tongue  on  the  temper  of  mind 
with  which  afflictive,  including  punitive,  dispensa- 
tions of  Providence  are  to  be  received,  we  shall 
pause  in  the  discussion  to  glance  at  the  prospect 
which  here  outspreads  itself, — to  view  the  hope 
set  beyond  the  suffering,  the  rest  of  forgiveness 
and  reconciliation  remaining  to  the  toil-worn  people 
of  God,  and,  daring  to  refuse  the  admission  of  the 
Apostle,  to  plead  that  the  grievous  chastening  of 


THE   RIGHT   USE    OF    SPEECH.  49 

our  Father  may  even  in  the  present  thne  seem 
joyous  if  we  bear  in  mind  its  intent, — "  that  we 
might  be  partakers  of  his  holiness."  Glorious  des- 
tiny !  Immeasurable  recompense  for  this  life  of 
darkness  and  trial !  Can  thought  figure  forth  an 
excellence  or  bliss  beyond  ?  Can  language  express 
a  nobler  condition,  a  vaster  inheritance?  Par- 
takers of  God's  holiness !  Our  minds  stagger  as 
they  would  reach  that  height.  We  veil  our  faces, 
unable  to  bear  this  ray  of  the  divine  effulgence. 
Still  on  this  low  earth,  with  this  body  of  natural 
and  spiritual  death,  we  must  prostrate  ourselves 
and  cry.  Unclean,  unclean !  before  with  rapturous 
emotions  of  gratitude  and  love  we  can  swell  the 
chorus  of  the  church  on  earth : — For  thou  only  art 
holy,  thou  only  art  the  Lord,  thou  only,  0  Christ, 
with  the  Holy  Ghost,  art  most  high  in  the  glory 
of  God  the  Father  ! 

Reader,  has  the  sin  of  your  nature  been  revealed 
to  you  ?     Has  no  self-deception  concerning  it  been 


50  THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH. 

tolerated,  no  false  excuse  admitted  ?  Have  you 
gone  with  it  to  God  and,  sorrowfully  showing  it  to 
him,  have  you  asked  that  he  would  take  it  away 
on  account  of  Jesus  Christ  who  came  into  the 
world  to  save  sinners  ?  Do  you  believe,  though 
you  do  not  comprehend,  that,  as  in  symbol  his 
blood-shedding  could  wash  away  an  outward  stain, 
so  his  life,  his  teaching,  his  both  attesting  and  ex- 
piatory death  are  the  means  appointed  for  your 
deliverance  from  guilt  and  your  conduct  to  heaven  ? 
If  so,  then  the  "  gift  by  grace"  has  abounded  to 
you,  and  your  repentance  is  accepted,  the  pardon 
is  granted,  the  strength  promised,  and  the  deliver- 
ance pledged.  The  gift  is  complete  and  absolute. 
No  half-way  measure,  no  imperfect  consolation,  no 
covering  over  of  your  guilt,  no  offer  of  a  temporary 
reconciliation.  God  "giveth  liberally," — in  the 
far  more  emphatic  original,  giveth  simply — with- 
out reserve,  without  recall,  without  upbraiding. 
"All  things   are  yours,"  if  you  will  but  accept 


THE    RIGHT    USE   OF   SPEECH.  51 

them,  and — mark  the  climax — "ye  are  Christ's 
and  Christ  is  God's."  You  are  then  to  receive 
through  Christ  of  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead ! 
In  expectation  of  this  "  unspeakable  gift,"  what 
remains  but  that  you  cleanse  yourself  from  all 
filthiness  of  the  flesh  and  spirit,  perfecting  holiness 
in  the  fear  of  God  ?  You  have  as  ground  of  en- 
couragement to  persevere — "  God  is  able  to  make 
all  grace  abound  toward  you ;"  and  the  fulfilment 
of  his  purpose  as  your  obligation  to  a  faithful  ser- 
vice— "  that  ye,  having  all  sufficiency  in  all  things, 
may  abound  to  every  good  work." 


CHAPTER   VI. 

THE  DUTY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  TONGUE  OBLIGA- 
TORY IN  PUBLIC  AS  IN  PRIVATE  AFFLICTION,  AND 
ESPECIALLY  URGED  ON  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

An  upheaving  of  the  solid  ground,  a  convulsion 
of  the  elements,  a  sweeping  away  of  ancient  land- 
marks, a  darkening  of  the  lights  of  heaven,  and  a 
pouring  down  on  our  devoted  heads  of  the  deluge 
of  God's  indignation,  are  now  experienced  in  this 
once  prosperous  country.  Late  events  in  their 
rapid  progress  and  startling  character  seem  to  be- 
long to  remote,  chaotic  periods  of  man's  history 
rather  than  to  the  order,  the  civilization  and  diffu- 
sion of  knowledge  which  belong  to  later  times. 
Nor  have  we  escaped  the  fierce  passions,  the  lust  of 
dominion,  the  occasionally  brutal  struggle  for  mas- 
tery which  characterized  semi-barbarous  ages ;  as 


THE    RIGHT    USE   OF    SPEECH.  53 

if  there  had  not  been  a  dawning  of  light  on  their 
darkness,  as  if  a  multitude  of  the  heavenly  host  had 
not  proclaimed  peace  and  good  will  to  men,  as  if 
we  had  not  beheld  a  Divine  "  example  of  suffering 
affliction  and  of  patience,"  and  as  if  from  a  chosen 
follower  of  our  meek  and  lowly  Saviour  there  had 
not  come  the  persuasive  pleading :  "  Let  all  bitter- 
ness and  wrath,  and  anger  and  clamor,  and  evil 
speaking  be  put  away  from  you  with  all  malice  ; 
and  be  ye  kind  one  to  another,  tender  hearted, 
forgiving  one  another,  even  as  God  for  Christ's 
sake  hath  forgiven  you  !"  Oh  the  clamor  of  this 
war  !  Far  above  the  hoarse  tones  of  command, 
the  cannon's  roar,  the  bursting  of  shells  and  many- 
shaped  instruments  of  destruction ;  far  above  the 
shrieks  and  groans  of  the  wounded  and  dying, 
and  the  combined  din  of  battle,  we  hear  a  noise  of 
tongues  set  on  fire  of  hell,  hissing,  roaring  in  awful 
explosions  of  hatred  and  vengefulness.  Are  you 
who  thus  utter  forth  your  rage  civilized  men,  and 


54  THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH. 

have  some  of  you — alas  for  your  Master's  name  ! — 
called  yourselves  Christians  ?  To  our  own  ears  has 
been  borne  the  imprecation  upon  an  enemy  of  de- 
struction both  in  this  life  and  in  the  next.  You 
could  not  then  leave  your  brother  to  the  disposi- 
tion of  your  common  Father  in  heaven  !  It  was 
not  enough  to  doom  him  in  your  heart  to  a  ruined 
life  and  hopeless  death,  but  usurping  the  province 
of  Divine  justice  and  refusing  that  of  ever  accom- 
panying Divine  mercy,  you  would  consign  him  to 
irretrievable  woe  !  When  once  the  glittering  sword 
is  whet,  on  whom,  think  you,  shall  fall  its  edge  ? 
"  If  ye  forgive  not  men  their  trespasses,  neither 
will  your  Father  forgive  your  trespasses." 

But  we  come  to  a  calmer  discussion  of  this  sub- 
ject. We  are  deeply  impressed  with  the  need  of 
arousing  the  Christian  conscience  of  the  whole  land 
in  regard  to  the  prevalent  abuses  of  speech.  We 
are  not  without  our  opinions,  sympathies,  perhaps 
our  prejudices.     But  into  the  question  before  us 


THE    RIGHT    USB    OF    SPEECH.  55 

they  are  not  suffered  to  intrude.  We  are  not  now 
pleading  to  establish  such  principles  of  govern- 
ment, interpretations  of  national  charters,  or 
applications  of  precedent  as  may  have  recommended 
themselves  to  our  adoption.  We  examine  not  now, 
our  Northern  and  Southern  brother!  into  the  right 
of  your  cause.  We  neither  dispute  the  statement 
of  your  grievances,  nor  question  the  correctness  of 
your  resulting  conclusions.  We  are  pleading  that 
as  one  great  brotherhood  in  a  Christian  land  we 
stand  together  on  the  platform  of  religious  obliga- 
tion, if  not  of  political  concordance.  If  the  writer 
mistakes  not — and  our  view  does  not  lack  confir- 
mation— there  comes  to  us  from  political  addresses, 
and  commemorative  orations,  from  the  periodical 
press,  and — must  we  say  it? — to  a  large  extent  from 
the  pulpit,  atone  of  denunciation  which,  considering 
our  very  recent  union  and  our  progress  in  the  high- 
est civilization,  is  not  called  forth  by  the  circum- 
stances of  the  conflict,  and  is  utterly  discordant  with 


56  THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH. 

the  teachings  of  Christianity.  We  observe  by  these 
organs  of  public  sentiment  an  immoderate  setting 
forth  of  individual  opinion  and  estimate  of  indi- 
vidual judgment;  a  rejection  of  long  established 
safeguards  of  demeanor  and  intercourse  ;  a  use  of 
epithets  and  terms,  which  in  themselves  contemp- 
tible, and  at  first,  even  to  the  ordinary  mind, 
merely  ludicrous,  acquire  an  influence  by  iteration, 
and  conduce  largely  to  the  relaxation  of  self-re- 
straint, both  in  the  formation  and  expression  of 
belief.  Ordinary  conversation  is  but  the  reduced 
impress  of  public  sentiment,  exceeding  its  type 
in  want  of  caution  and  accuracy,  in  vehemence 
and  rancor,  as  personal  passions  and  prejudices 
lash  and  urge  each  other  into  more  inordinate  de- 
velopment. 

We  have  said  that  the  conflict  subsisting  between 
two  sections  of  the  once  united  States,  does  not 
sufficiently  account  for  this  excitement  of  feeling  and 
language.    If  you,  reader,  and  ourselves,  to  whichso- 


THE    RIGHT    USE   OF   SPEECH.  57 

ever  of  the  contending  divisions  we  individually 
belong,  could  come  together  to  review  the  past  and 
discuss  the  probabilities  ofthe  future,  our  souls  would 
be  filled  with  terrified  amazement  at  the  rapid  pro- 
gress of  events,  would  kindle  in  indignation  against 
the  destroyers  of  our  prosperity,  and  melt  also  in 
sorrow  for  national  suffering,  and,  we  trust,  for 
national  sinfulness.  If  we  could  describe  the  com- 
plication of  opposing  interests  and  theories  which 
has  gradually  brought  about  the  separation  ;  if  we 
could  expose  the  ambition  and  corruption  which 
stalk  triumphant  through  all  the  land  under  the 
semblance  of  patriotism ;  if  we  could  calculate  the 
millions  of  not  only  expended  but  squandered 
money,  and  number  the  heaped-up  bodies  of  our 
slain,  and  the  aching  hearts  of  the  bereaved ;  if 
we  could  behold  the  desolation  of  wide  tracts  of 
country,  of  fertile  estates  and  well  loved  homes, 
the  rapid  wasting  of  toil-acquired  competence  and 
closing   of    many   avenues    of  employment,   the 


58  THE    RIGHT   USE    OF    SPEECH. 

thronged  hospitals  of  sick  and  wounded,  the 
family  separations  and  estrangements  ;  if  we  could 
estimate  public  and  private  anxiety  and  apprehen- 
sion, the  lowered  position  and  influence  of  our 
country  in  the  congress  of  nations,  the  continually 
arising  questions  and  subordinate  interests  which 
seem  ever  more  hopelessly  to  divide  us ;  and  if, 
without  unduly  seeking  to  discover  the  future,  we 
consider  the  probable  heritage  to  our  children  of 
diminished  fortunes,  of  a  country  impoverished  by 
civil  war  and  without  settled  government ;  if  we  bear 
in  mind  the  moral  deterioration  which  is  one  of  the 
saddest  results  of  the  contest,  the  distraction  of 
mind  from  Christian  contemplations,  the  time 
taken  from  every  elevating,  enlightening,  and 
benevolent  pursuit,  and  expended  not  only  in  the 
exigent  employments  of  the  war,  but  in  the  innu- 
merable connecting  claims  which  hydra-headed 
have  sprung  up  to  devour  many  a  well  devised 
plan  of  financial,  literary,  or  religious  operation; — 


THE   RIGHT   USE   OF    SPEECH.  59 

if  we  sufficiently  ponder  these  present,  pressing, 
and  undeniable  evils,  we  shall  conclude  that  the 
vial  of  God's  wrath  is  now  poured  out  upon  our 
land.  But  long  as  is  our  enumeration,  and  potent 
as  is  the  action  of  the  agencies  of  this  war,  we 
repeat  our  assertion  that  they  do  not  explain  the 
bitterness  and  evil  speaking  which  seem  to  us 
especially  to  characterize  it.  Hundreds  of  thou- 
sands among  us  have  kindred  and  friends  in  the 
opposing  sections ;  and  can  it  be  that  the  bond  of 
relationship,  citizenship,  and  of  a  common  Christ- 
ian faith,  can  be  severed  as  in  a  day  by  struggling 
interests  and  jealousies,  nay,  by  even  wrong-doing 
and  injustice  ?  It  is  even  so ;  and  what  beside 
unavoidable  lamentation  remains  to  the  Christian 
patriot?  In  pestilence,  famine,  or  foreign  attack, 
he  would  submissively  acknowledge  the  hand  of 
God ;  and  no  less  in  this  civil  conflict  is  he  bound 
to  discern  the  Divine  ordering,  and,  in  the  careful 
discharge  of  what  he  deems  his  duty,  to  exercise 


60  THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH. 

self-watchfulness, moderation,  and  meekness.  How- 
ever men's  mutual  relations  may  vary,  they  never 
vary  with  God.  His  rule  is  universal  and  en- 
during ;  his  law  has  been  promulged  for  all  time 
and  all  conditions,  is  laid  down  for  the  friend  and 
the  enemy,  extends  to  every  thought  of  the  heart,  , 
casts  down  every  self-exalting  imagination,  binds 
every  member  of  the  body,  and  bridles  even  the 
unruly  and  iniquitous  tongue. 

In  regard  to  the  duty  which  we  have  been  con- 
sidering in  its  application  to  the  present  condition 
of  our  country,  there  seems  to  have  come  from  the 
pulpit  an  uncertain  sound.  With  deep  regret  we 
have  failed  to  gather  from  its  teachings  at  large, 
the  warning  and  instruction  which  it  should  have 
been  foremost  to  proffer.  Through  her  mouth- 
piece, the  pulpit  and  religious  press,  the  Church 
has  made  no  proper  vindication  of  her  rights,  no 
fearless  assumption  of  her  responsibilities.  In- 
deed, we  have  begun  to  fear  that  in  our  long  pro- 


THE    RIGHT    USE   OF    SPEECH.  61 

tracted  period  of  internal  tranquillity,  no  just  view 
has  become  current  of  her  relations  to  the  State, 
which  though  riveted  by  no  political  fastening, 
unquestionably  exist,  and  in  no  system  of  govern- 
ment can  be  wholly  ignored.  To  define  them,  is 
to  guard  the  State  from  lawlessness  on  the  one 
hand  and  ecclesiastical  assumption  on  the  other, 
and  the  Church  from  arrogance  and  self-assertion, 
from  secular  contempt  and  civil  oppression.  It  is 
to  provide  a  system  of  checks  and  balances,  which 
in  its  efficiency  indicates  its  Divine  origin,  and 
therefore  permanent  adaptation.  The  Church  is 
honorable  in  her  two-fold  office  of  exponent  of 
God's  will  and  of  man's  obligation.  Her  Founder 
shall  gird  his  sword  upon  his  thigh  and  ride  pros- 
perously, because  of  truth,  and  meekness,  and  right- 
eousness; and  shall  not  she  be  all  glorious  with  the 
concentrated  radiance  of  these  principles  of  his 
rule  and  highest  attainments  of  his  willing  sub- 
jects ?    We  regard  the  Church  as  a  partial  type  of 


62  THE    RIGHT   USE    OF    SPEECH. 

the  Saviour,  "as,  hypothetically,  the  impersonation 
of  his  teachings,  as  like  himself  commissioned, 
though  only  by  his  authority  and  to  the  letter  of 
his  instructions,  to  declare  in  all  time  to  man  the 
rule  of  life  and  way  to  heaven.  If  she  be  faithful 
to  her  trust,  she  will  not  shun  to  make  manifest 
the  whole  revealed  counsel  of  God,  or  to  utter 
her  convictions  as  to  truth  and  right,  derived,  as 
they  should  be,  from  her  infallible  charter  of  in- 
structions. Some  of  her  disciples  dictate  to  her 
that  she  put  her  hand  on  her  mouth  in  times  of 
national  agitation  or  less  momentous  party  strife, 
or  that  she  give  expression  to  but  one  class  of 
truths  ;  that  her  ministers,  in  the  garments  of  con- 
secration, avoiding  the  high  ways  of  life,  their 
shoes  from  off  their  feet  on  the  holy  ground  of 
professional  labor,  should  wait  the  end  of  all 
things  in  the  restoration  and  consummation  of 
heaven.  We,  ourselves,  have  loved  to  liken  the 
Church  to  John  the  Baptist,  crying  in  this  wilder- 


THE    RIGHT   USE   OP    SPEECH.  63 

ness  world,  "  Prepare  ye  the  way  of  the  Lord ;" 
clothed  not  in  the  soft  raiment  of  earthly  luxury 
and  preferment,  but  in  the  self-denying  virtues  of 
a  messenger  of  Christ,  girded  ever  for  coming  toil 
and  endurance,  and  sustaining  herself  not  by  ex- 
travagant demands  of  large  outlay  and  bestowal, 
but  by  that  simple  provision  of  inward  grace 
which  God  by  his  power,  which  worketh  mightily 
in  true  believers,  shall  abundantly  and  continually 
suppl3^  In  her  greatest  temporal  prosperity  she 
has  often  failed  to  maintain  the  singleness  of  her 
trust  in  the  all-sufficient  declaration,  "  I  am  with 
you  alway."  Leaning  on  an  arm  of  flesh,  which 
could  not  uphold  her,  she  has  fallen  from  her 
high  estate.  So  manifest  at  times  has  been  the 
worldly  and  contentious  spirit,  the  love  of  wealth 
and  power,  the  bigoted  proscription  of  some  who 
were  fairly  under  her  protection,  and  the  zeal  for 
conversion,  not  so  much  to  Christianity  as  to  a 
sect,  that  it  might  well  be  asked  of  her.  Which  of 


64  THE   RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH. 

tlie  two  masters  is  the  one  whom  you  serve  ? 
"  Why  call  ye  me,  Lord,  Lord,  and  do  not  the 
thmgs  which  I  say?"  And  yet  ofttimes  in  a 
period  of  trial,  the  Church  has  experienced,  like 
her  Founder,  that  though  tempted  sorely  by  Satan 
and  beset  by  wild  beasts  of  infidelity,  fanaticism, 
and  persecution,  angels  have  ministered  unto  her, 
and  the  voice  of  that  Spirit  which  conducted  her 
into  the  desolate  region  has  given  sweet  assurance 
of  tender  filial  relation  and  Divine  complacency. 

It  is  the  office  of  the  Church,  as  it  was  that  of 
John  the  Baptist,  to  announce  a  Saviour, — "Be- 
hold the  Lamb  of  God  which  taketh  away  the  sin 
of  the  world,"  and  to  declare  her  own  mission, — 
"  that  he  should  be  made  manifest,  therefore  am  I 
come."  *  *  *  *  But  John  walked  elsewhere  than 
in  the  wilderness.  Within  the  circle  of  court 
splendor  and  influence  he  had  seen  a  form  of  evil 
triumphant,  and,  clad  in  robes  of  royalty,  stalk 
not  only  unrebuked,  but  legalized  and  honored 


THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH.  65 

through  the  land.  He  contented  himself  with  no 
assertion  of  general  principles,  no  supposition  of  a 
case,  no  enunciation  of  a  rule  that  could  be  applied 
or  not  at  pleasure.  Without  any  timid  or  tortuous 
approach  to  the  subject,  in  form  of  direct  address, 
in  words  that  could  not  be  fewer  or  simpler,  he 
says  to  the  king,  "  It  is  not  lawful  for  thee  to 
have  her."  He  speaks  with  authority,  and  the 
conscience  of  Herod  applies  and  confirms  his 
decision.  John,  doubtless,  had  cautious  friends 
among  his  disciples,  who  would  argue  that  his 
mission  was  to  announce  the  coming  and  work 
of  Christ,  and  that  in  ^'baptizing  and  preaching" 
he  could  find  ample  employment  of  his  time  and 
powers ;  that  it  was  needless  to  expose  himself  to 
the  wrath  of  Herod,  and  useless ;  for  had  not  the 
marriage  been  concluded,  and  might  not  questions 
exist  as  to  the  new  relations  and  obligations  that 
might  arise  from  its  illegal  consummation  ?  Some 
might  urge  that  to  wink  at  this  already  committed 

6* 


66  THE    EIGHT    USE   OF    SPEECH. 

evil,  would  ensure  for  the  new  doctrine  which  the 
coming  Christ  was  to  declare,  a  readier  hearing 
and  more  hearty  reception.  Truly,  friends  in 
high  places  seemed  wanting  to  the  feeble  band 
that  was  the  seed  of  the  church ;  and  Herod,  al- 
ready obBerving  John — the  first  point  gained, — 
fearing  him,  because  he  knew  John  to  be  that 
which  he  would  make  others — a  just  man  and  an 
holy — Herod,  already  hearing  him,  aye,  hearing 
him  gladly,  and  doing  many  things — was  not  this 
Herod  almost  a  Christian?  In  like  case  could 
minister's  heart  feel  greater  encouragement  or  an- 
ticipate happier  results  ?  Even  to  us,  in  the  blaze 
of  Gospel  light,  the  course  of  the  matter  seems 
mysterious,  and  we  are  ready  to  conclude  that  but 
for  this  reproof  of  the  speaker  he  had  gained  the 
soul  of  his  hearer.  How  much  more  mysterious  to 
those  who  came  and  took  up  the  headless  corpse, 
and,  laying  it  in  the  tomb,  seemed  there  also  to 
bury  the  mighty  truths  John  came  to  promulgate. 


THE    RIGHT   USE    OF    SPEECH.  67 

the  long  deferred  prophetic  fulfihnent,  and  to 
quench  in  its  darkness  the  light  which  had  sprung 
up  in  "the  region  and  shadow  of  death"  in  which 
for  ages  they  had  sat ! 

So  far,  then,  as  the  history  of  John  can  convey 
them,  are  represented  the  character  and  mission  of 
the  Church.  '  Primarily,  she  is  to  declare  Christ's 
coming,  teachings,  and  requirements.  Second- 
arily, in  view  of  these  great  considerations,  this 
"  kingdom  of  heaven"  now  '^  at  hand,"  she  calls 
on  man  to  repent,  and,  in  his  every  condition  and 
relation,  to  bring  forth  in  the  faithful  discharge  of 
his  obligations  "  fruits  meet  for  repentance."  She 
is  not  infallible  in  her  judgments,  for  she  is  not 
that  light  "  which  lighteth  every  man  that  cometh 
into  the  world,"  but  was  instituted  to  "  bear  wit- 
ness of  that  light ;"  not  arrogant  of  power  nor 
boastful  of  influence,  for  her  appeal  is  ever  to  One 
standing  among  you  whom  ye  know  not,  "  whose 
shoe  latchet  I  am  not  worthy  to  unloose ;"  not 


68  THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH. 

self-confident  and  relying,  for  on  her  banner — is 
she  not  militant  with  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the 
devil? — she  has  inscribed  One  mightier  than  I.  But 
on  every  question  that  may  touch  man's  eternal 
welfare — and  what  question  touches  it  not  ? — she 
speaks  as  her  Master  would  have  spoken,  in  the 
spirit  which  was  his,  keeping  back  no  truth,  sup- 
pressing no  claim,  enforcing  the  one  and  urging 
the  other  with  undeviating  regard  to  Gospel  faith- 
fulness and  Gospel  love.  Rulers,  masters,  parents, 
no  less  than  subjects,  slaves,  and  children,  are 
commanded,  warned,  and  guarded.  As  indi- 
viduals form  the  body  ecclesiastical,  so  shall  in- 
dividual belief  find  appropriate  expression  from 
the  pulpit,  and  it  may  happen  that  that  belief  is 
unsound ;  but  the  advocacy  of  every  opinion  is  to 
be  held  in  its  mode  and  extent  subordinate  to 
recognized  supreme  laws.  No  theories  or  measures 
of  civil  or  ecclesiastical  organizations  have  any  in- 
herent value   or  self-sustaining    principle   unless 


THE    RIGHT    USE    OF   SPEECH.  69 

they  are  framed  in  obedience  to  the  Christian  law 
and  maintained  and  prosecuted  in  conformity  to 
the  Christian  spirit.  Each  will  demand  the  occa- 
sional surrender  of  will,  the  constantly,  if  not  ex- 
actly distrustful,  yet  humble  and  docile  exercise  of 
judgment.  In  the  history  both  of  churches  and 
of  nations,  there  has  been  recorded  "  a  marvellous 
work  and  a  wonder,"  for  the  wisdom  of  their  wise 
men  has  often  signally  perished,  and  the  under- 
standing of  their  prudent  men  been  hid.  And 
wherefore  ?  Their  fear  toward  Me  is  taught  hy 
the  precept  of  men. 

To  a  dispassionate  observer  of  the  action  of  the 
Church  in  relation  to  the  contest  between  the 
States,  we  think  it  would  appear  that  the  Church 
throughout  the  land  has,  on  the  whole,  exerted  her 
influence  to  maintain  rather  than  to  moderate  the 
vehement  spirit  in  which  it  has  very  generally 
been  prosecuted,  and  especially,  for  peculiar  local 
reasons,  in  one  section  of  the  country.     We  have 


70  THE    RIGHT   USE   OF    SPEECH. 

already  recounted  the  causes  of  this  virulent  ani- 
mosity, and  it  will  be  acknowledged  with  due  con- 
sideration of  their  influence,  that  some  check  to 
the  frantic  impulses  of  the  more  violent  combatants 
is,  and  would  always,  in  like  contingencies,  be 
needed.  In  the  general  disseverment  of  societies 
and  cessation  of  intercourse,  we  deem  it  to  have 
been  not  impracticable  that  the  Church,  though  no 
longer  in  corporate  form,  should  preserve  her  pro- 
per unity,  and  even  with  opposing  action  in  rela- 
tion to  the  national  division,  should  still  promi- 
nently hold  forth  the  principles  on  which  she  was 
constituted,  and  which  she  is  pledged  to  consider 
as  forever  obligatory.  But  her  course,  if  we  mis- 
take not,  has  been  a  prompt  and  eager  partisan- 
ship ;  and  it  has  been  maintained  with  an  ever 
augmenting  confidence  and  earnestness,  which,  in 
some  of  their  manifestations,  cannot  be  reconciled 
to  the  religion  of  the  Bible. 

We  do  not  overlook  the  causes  which  have  con- 


THE   RIGHT   USE   OF    SPEECH.  71 

duced  to  this  result.  Naturally,  the  spiritual 
teacher  would  feel  strong  devotion  to  the  sectional 
views  which  on  each  side  are  supposed,  for  the 
most  part  conscientiously,  to  be  vital  not  only  to 
the  existence  of  good  government,  but  to  the  pros- 
perity of  the  Church.  We  cannot  justly  ignore  the 
influence  of  individual  temperament,  the  strong 
sympathy  of  the  pastoral  clergy  with  the  senti- 
ments and  interests  of  their  people,  the  continual 
attrition  of  mutual  discussion,  and  the  imj)ulse  of 
the  sensational  daily  press.  We  would  not  forget 
that  high  as  is  the  standard  for  the  character  of 
the  Church  as  a  body,  that  standard  affecting 
chiefly  professional  acts  of  her  ministers,  though  it 
can  be  maintained  only  by  their  inward  spirituality, 
can  scarcely  be  applied  to  individual  performance. 
Ministers  as  well  as  other  men  can  claim,  accord- 
ing to  the  Latin  adage,  that  nothing  human  is  re- 
moved from  their  sphere  of  thought  and  emotion, 
if,  in  their  case,  it  be  from  that  of  their  active  par- 


72  THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH. 

ticipation.  But  we  fail  to  find  in  the  personal 
claims  of  patriotism,  or  in  the  more  common  and 
plausible  plea — the  duty  of  wielding  aright  the 
large  influence  of  the  Church,  in  the  demands  of 
sympathy,  or  the  propriety  of  diffusing  through 
church  going  hearers  intelligent  and  just  views 
of  the  pending  difficulties; — we  fail,  we  say,  to 
find,  even  in  these  legitimate  motives,  justifica- 
tion for  the  language  and  action,  in  reference 
to  the  national  crisis,  of  numbers  of  the  clergy 
belonging  to  various  denominations,  and  to  North- 
ern and  Southern  States.  An  error,  it  is  true, 
was  from  the  first  committed  by  the  community 
at  large,  which,  but  for  the  ready  tolerance  of 
the  clergy,  would  have  been  a  gross  indignity 
to  their  body.  It  was  not  needful,  considering 
their  pre-existing  local  interests,  nor  admissible, 
in  view  of  their  profession,  to  institute  an  inquiry 
into  their  political  opinions,  or  demand  from  them 
an  account  of  their  private  utterances.  The  test 
question,  if  not  always  formally,  has  been  actually 


THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH.  73 

and  rigidly  applied  to  them.  For  an  overt  act 
which  by  either  party  can  be  construed  as  injuri- 
ous to  the  State,  the  ecclesiastic,  as  any  other 
man,  is  amenable  to  a  civil  tribunal.  But  on  no 
ground  can  it  be  denied  to  him  to  offer  in  proper 
time  and  place,  or  to  reserve,  if  deemed  necessary 
to  either  personal  or  Christian  interests,  the  expres- 
sion of  his  sentiments  on  public  affairs.  With  as 
much  reason  might  we  authoritatively  investigate 
his  views  on  social,  literary,  or  non-essential  reli- 
gious questions,  demand  from  him  conformity  to  a 
humanly  declared  standard  of  dress,  expenditure, 
and  intercourse  with  men,  or  make  him  run  the 
gauntlet  of  the  ultra  societies  and  novel  practices 
which  are  the  rank  overgrowth  of  our  spiritual 
vitality  and  liberty.  Our  ecclesiastical  as  well  as 
our  civil  republicanism  is  somewhat  over  sturdy 
and  vigorous  ;  or  perhaps  we  should  more  correctly 
say,  each  has  been  forced  into  much  monstrous 
and  unfruitful  developuient  by  injudicious  tenders, 


74  THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH. 

and  ill  a  hot  bed  of  miscalled  progress  and  re- 
form, of  impracticable  theories,  and  impatience  of 
legal,  moral,  and  divine  restraint.  It  has  been 
anoffenceagainstthereverenceduetothe  office,  and 
in  minor  degree  to  the  persons  of  the  clergy,  thus 
to  draw  them  into  the  arena  of  conflict ;  and  if  the 
dust  linger  on  the  "  holy  garments,"  the  reproach 
is  in  no  small  part  with  them  who  in  effect  "  say 
to  the  seers.  See  not,  and  to  the  prophets.  Pro- 
phesy not  unto  us  right  things  ;  speak  unto  us 
smooth  things," — the  things  which  recommend 
themselves  to  our  desires — "  prophesy  deceits." 

We  said  the  reproach  has  in  part  fallen  upon  the 
secular  community.  But  "  who  is  blind,  but  my 
servant  ?  or  deaf,  as  my  messenger  that  I  sent  ?" 
Submitting  at  first  with  scarcely  a  show  of  resis- 
tance to  the  bold  handling  of  their  private  judg- 
ment on  non-professional  matters,  numbers  of  the 
clergy  thus  forsook  their  only  tenable  ground  in 
the  rush  and  conflict  around  them,  and  allowed 


THE   RIGHT    USE    OF   SPEECH.  75 

themselves  to  be  dragged  from  the  eminence 
whence  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the 
land,  a  voice  might  have  gone  forth  and  rung  in 
every  ear — not  the  sentiment  of  the  American 
Church  respecting  the  national  disruption — but  the 
blessed  precepts  of  the  Gospel.  Influenced  at  first 
by  timidity  or  by  want  of  a  proper  estimate  of 
their  professional  position  and  its  privileges,  and 
very  often  by  unresisted  personal  feelings,  they 
have  since  to  a  large  extent  moved  forward  eagerly 
on  the  path  in  which  they  have  been  set.  Minis- 
terial counsels  and  the  religious  press  have  been 
extreme,  vehement,  prescriptive.  They  have  au- 
thoritatively questioned  and  reproved  in  their  own 
body  what  was  deemed  a  lack  of  zeal  in  advocat- 
ing the  sectional  contest,  or  a  manifesting  of  sym- 
'pathy  for  opponents.  Indeed,  this  word  of  sweet 
human  meaning  and  gospel  use  has  come  some- 
what into  discredit  in  these  days,  and  its  appli- 
cation, to  our  thinking,  been  unduly  restricted. 


76  THE    RIGHT   USE    OF    SPEECH. 

Why  may  not  personal  preference  unite  with 
"kindness,  humbleness  of  mind,  meekness,  and 
long-suffering"  to  recommend  and  promote,  not 
illegal  or  unfair  practice,  but  moderation  and 
indulgence  of  sentiment  and  expression  ?  Public 
opinion,  first  secular,  then  ecclesiastical,  has  called 
for  what  it  terms  decided  iestimony  to  the  justice 
of  the  views  and  measures  of  the  section;  and 
from  already  mentioned  causes,  as  the  fear  of 
lessened  influence,  personal  obloquy,  or  earnest  in- 
dividual feeling,  the  minister,  in  his  public  utter- 
ances concerning  the  opposing  party,  has  not  been 
slow  to  comply  with  the  command,  "  Cry  aloud  and 
spare  not,"  forgetting  that  the  injunction  Avas  laid 
on  one  divinely  inspired  and  directed  in  the  case. 
Nor  has  the  zeal  of  the  clergy  found  its  only  vent 
in  somewhat  open  mouthed  declamation.  Some 
have  left  the  ecclesiastical  for  the  military  service. 
Many,  in  addition  to  such  as,  with  special  qualifi- 
cations and  no  restraining  ties  of  parish  or  family, 
might  well  deem  themselves  summoned  to  the  post, 


THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH.  77 

have  attached  themselves  in  their  clerical  capa- 
city to  the  army,  who  have  most  deplorably  failed 
to  meet  their  grave  responsibilities.  A  minister 
who,  in  peculiar  circumstances,  was  solicited  to 
take  a  command,  replied  that  in  considering  the 
proposition  he  had  sought  a  precedent  for  such  a 
change,  and  that  failing  to  find  that  Jewish  priest 
or  Levite  had  ever  been  enrolled  among  com- 
batants, he  must  decline  the  appointment.  Our 
heart  is  moved  in  Christian  rejoicing  for  one  who, 
strongly  tempted  to  indulge  a  natural  taste  which 
a  military  training  had  developed,  would  ask  coun- 
sel of  the  word  of  God,  and  abide  by  its  decision. 
And  yet,  we  could  not  but  grieve  that,  at  this 
period  of  the  world,  and  with  our  advance  in  Chris- 
tian knowledge,  one  who  had  been  long  in  the 
ministry,  should  have  to  establish  for  the  first 
time  the  grounds  of  his  action  on  such  an  occa- 
sion ;  and  that  in  the  Gospel  which  he  was  com- 
missioned to  preach,  he  seemingly  did  not  discover 

7* 


78  THE    RIGHT    USE   OF    SPEECH. 

ample  enunciation  of  principles  which  would  apply 
in  the  case.  Had  he  searched  for  precedent  the 
New,  as  he  did  the  Old  Testament,  he  would  have 
found  it.  But  the  solitary  Bible  instance  of  a  min- 
ister's bearing  arms  would  scarcely  have  availed 
much  in  the  premises.  In  that  case,  the  spirit  of 
oppugnation  was  not  very  vehement,  the  physical 
courage  was  deficient,  for  later  it  altogether  failed 
the  combatant,  or,  in  common  with  most  of  his 
brethren  of  the  present  day,  he  had  not  attained 
to  any  special  skill  in  the  use  of  weapons,  as  the 
damage  done  by  his  sword  was  inconsiderable,  and, 
but  for  the  solemn  surroundings  of  the  scene,  would 
have  been  ludicrous.  Beside,  the  action  and  di- 
rection of  the  Saviour  are  not  susceptible  of  mis- 
construction. They  afford,  with  the  command  to 
lay  aside  the  sword,  a  general  and  ever  applicable 
warning,  and  the  exact  reparation  of  the  injury  by 
the  restoring  of  the  lost  member  to  the  doubtless 
wondering  servant  of  the  high  priest.     The  ques- 


THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH.  79 

tion  of  the  right  of  self-defence  stands  alone,  and 
is  to  be  considered  as  established  on  natural, 
moral,  and  scripture  principles.  But  we  can  reach 
no  conclusion  but  that  any  other  voluntary  assump- 
tion of  arms  by  a  Christian  minister  is  indefensible 
altogether  by  Christian  teaching,  and  is  inferen- 
tially  prohibited  by  such  a  measure  as  the  early 
separation  of  the  apostles,  by  the  interposition  of 
the  office  of  deacon,  from  even  kindred  secular 
employments. 

Extempore  jDublic  prayer  has  to  a  great  extent 
expressed  the  party  spirit,  or  we  might  more 
fairly  say,  the  enthusiastic  advocacy  of  sectional  in- 
terests, which  has  characterized  the  general  action 
of  the  Church.  In  a  few  melancholy  instances  it 
has  been  scarcely  qualified  in  its  pleading  for  the 
destruction  of  enemies.  When,  without  such  de- 
nunciation, it  has  been  legitimately  preferred  for 
the  prosperity  and  success  of  the  so  deemed  right- 
eous cause,  it  has  often  assumed  a  tone  of  dicta- 


80  THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH. 

tion,  and  exhibited  a  self-assertion  and  unrestricted 
self-confidence,  which  at  any  time  ill  become 
ignorant  and  fallible  men,  and  assuredly  are 
irreverent  and  insane  in  a  crisis  like  the  present, 
when  questions  await  solution,  more  complicate  in 
form  and  momentous  in  import  than  any  that  have 
yet  been  proposed  to  the  most  accurate  reasoning 
or  sagacious  statesmanshij).  In  the  ordinary  and 
simpler  entanglements  of  private  or  public  affairs, 
we  have  ever  reason  to  distrust  our  deceitful 
hearts,  to  beware  of  the  false  weights  of  prejudice 
and  self-love  in  the  balance  of  our  mental  appre- 
ciation of  the  justness  of  our  cause.  It  would  be 
well  for  us  if  in  every  determining  process  of 
thought,  Ave  would  address  ourselves  to  the 
Searcher  of  hearts,  invoke  his  closest  scrutiny,  re- 
cite to  him  all  past  action,  declare  every  purpose, 
and,  like  David,  anticipate  "  good  judgment  and 
knowledge,"  only  by  believing  his  commandments. 
It  would   be  well  if  with  David  we  would  from 


THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH.  81 

time  to  time  review  the  ground  of  our  persuasion 
and  the  course  of  our  conduct: — "If  I  have  done 
this,  if  there  be  iniquity  in  my  hands,  if  I  have 
rewarded  evil  unto  him  that  was  at  peace  with  me ;" 
and  well,  also,  if  our  zeal  for  truth  and  right  could, 
like  David's,  predominate  over  our  yearnings  for 
success  and  triumph  : — "  If  I  have  done  this — let 
the  enemy  persecute  my  soul  and  take  it,  yea,  let 
him  tread  down  my  life  upon  the  earth,  and  lay 
mine  honor  in  the  dust."  There  is  a  simple  and 
certain  method  of  ensuring  both  intellectual  sound- 
ness and  moral  rectitude ;  and  the  Psalmist  gives 
it  in  few  words :  "  Through  thy  precepts  I  get  under- 
standing ;  therefore  I  hate  every  false  way." 

The  imprecatory  Psalms,  which  have  furnished 
the  form  at  least  of  much  of  the  denunciation  of 
enemies  which  has  found  unhappily  its  expression 
in  public  prayer,  have  ever  proved  intangible  to  the 
writer's  spiritual  apprehension ;  and,  like  many  now 
inexplicable  facts  and  mysterious  announcements, 


82  THE    RIGHT   USE    OF    SPEECH. 

will  obtain  to  ourselves  their  proper  significancy 
only  in  the  great  day  of  general  revealing.  We 
are  aware  that  to  this  particular  class  of  Psalms  is 
attached  by  some  a  figurative  meaning, — that  the 
formidable  and  persecuting  enemy  is  the  great 
adversary  of  souls,  who  with  his  legions  of  allied 
combatants  in  the  world  and  in  the  flesh,  takes 
"  crafty  counsel"  against  the  people  of  God,  and 
"consults"  against  his  "hidden  ones;"  and  that 
the  personal  rancor  of  David  typifies  the  Christ- 
ian's undying  conflict  with  every  form  of  evil,  and 
his  abiding  separation  from  all  workers  of  iniquity 
and  contemners  of  God.  Again,  we  have  listened 
to  the  argument  that  David's  vehement  indignation 
is  sanctioned  by  the  fact  of  his  enemies  being  em- 
phatically the  enemies  of  God,  and  that  his  was  there- 
fore no  ordinary  hate  and  vengefulness,  but  con- 
suming zeal  for  Divine  honor  and  supremacy. 
Calvin,  taking  this  view  if  we  mistake  not,  for  we 
have  not  now  access  to  the  passage,  infers  that  with 


THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH.  83 

such  chastened  and  holy  indignation,  we  may 
lawfully  refresh  ourselves  by  witnessing  the 
punishment  of  evil  doers ;  but  that  unassisted 
natural  promptings  and  emotions  will,  in  like  case, 
be  indulged  only  to  a  wrong  and  perverse  end. 
To  what  point  of  achievement  David  had  attained 
in  the  subduing  of  his  personal  animosities,  and  the 
internal  substitution  of  the  single  motive  of  God's 
glory,  it  is  needless  to  inquire,  and  would  be  from 
his  history  difficult  to  discover.  For  our  practical 
deduction  it  is  sufficient  to  note  that,  however 
just  Calvin's  view  may  be  hypothetically,  we  can- 
not assure  ourselves  of  such  exemption  from  the 
infirmity  of  human  principles  of  thought  and 
action,  as  will  enable  us  to  conclude  that  we  have 
the  proper  conscious  witness  of  supreme  love  to 
God  and  desire  for  his  glory,  which  would  justify 
the  language  concerning  enemies  so  abundantly 
used  in  the  portion  of  the  book  of  Psalms  to  which 
we  have  referred.     Matthew  Henry,  who,  in  spite 


84  THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH. 

of  a  habit  of  too  lengthened  discussion,  of  a  weary- 
ing love  of  antithesis,  and  a  somewhat  puerile  and 
unsuitable  play  upon  words,  and  even,  in  one  re- 
membered instance,  upon  letters,  is  one  of  the 
most  searching  and  apparently  successful  investi- 
gators of  the  spiritual  meaning  of  the  Psalms — 
with  marked  elevation  of  tone  and  felicity  of  ex- 
pression, thus  declares  to  us  the  sin  of  the  unmodi- 
fied condemnation  of  enemies  which  appeals  to 
the  Psalms  for  its  justification  :  "Greater  impiety 
can  scarcely  be  imagined  than  to  vent  a  devihsh 
passion  in  the  language  of  sacred  writ,  to  kindle 
strife  with  coals  snatched  from  God's  altar,  and 
to  call  for  fire  from  heaven  with  a  tongue  set 
on  fire  of  hell." 

We  have  already  intimated  that  the  preaching 
of  the  American  pulpit  during  the  last  two  years 
has  largely  reflected  the  national  excitement  and 
division  of  sentiment.  Sermons,  if  not  wholly 
devoted   to  the  subject  of  our  disturbances,  so 


THE   RIGHT   USE   OF    SPEECH.  85 

abound  with  relating  allusions  and  illustrations, 
that  we  are  scarcely  able  to  rid  ourselves  of  the 
impression  that  the  speaker  has  folded  his  daily- 
print  only  just  before  opening  the  Word  of  God  to 
expound  to  inquiring  and  anxious  souls  the  truth 
as  it  is  in  Jesus.  On  the  days  most  appropriate 
to  expressions  of  public  sentiment — days  of  dis- 
tinguished obituary  commemoration,  of  fasting, 
and  of  thanksgiving,  we  are  fain  to  content  our- 
selves, or  at  least  to  restrain  our  restiveness,  under 
the  protracted  and  redundant  national  glor^nng  or 
wailing,  as  the  occasion  and  temperament  of  the 
speaker  may  dictate.  But  on  the  Sabbath, — the 
blessed  Sabbath  of  no  country  and  no  sect, — shall 
Christians  be  denied  the  rest  for  which  it  was  de- 
signed ?  Is  it  at  the  bidding  of  Christian  minis- 
ters that  we  turn  again  to  that  world  from  whose 
toil  and  trouble  we  had  for  a  brief  season  made 
our  escape  ?  Through  all  the  weary  six  days,  men 
have   heard,    thought,  talked,  planned,  dreamed 


86  THE    RIGHT    USE   OF    SPEECH. 

even,  of  little  else  than  the  interest  which,  though 
involving  what  is  stable  and  precious  in  worldly 
possessions,  though  enlisting  what  is  magnanimous 
in  sentiment,  and  self-sacrificing  in  action,  is  still 
an  interest  of  time,  an  interest  of  earthly  consider- 
ation, an  interest  which  assails  us  in  some  form 
with  almost  every  temptation  of  the  heart  and  of 
the  tongue,  and  which,  addressing  itself  specially 
to  our  pride  and  self-confidence,  draws  us  away 
from  dependence  on  God,  and  substitutes  the 
might  of  our  hand  to  obtain  for  us  the  wished  for 
victory.  Worn  with  •  such  toil  of  fruitless  thought, 
with  the  conflict  of  passion  and  temptation,  literally 
plagued  all  the  day  long  and  chastened  every 
morning,  longing,  yea  even  fainting  for  the  courts 
of  the  Lord,  men  have  sought  to  return  to  the  lost 
rest  of  their  souls,  and  to  recall,  like  David,  amidst 
their  distress  the  ever  bountiful  dealings  of  their 
God.  Alas !  the  true  mental  entrance  into  the 
temple  of  praise  and  thanksgiving  has  been  denied 


THE   RIGHT   USE   OF    SPEECH.  87 

by  the  very  hand  which  should  have  thrown  wide 
the  gate  and  beckoned  in  the  halting,  weary,  way- 
faring man.  In  Mohammedan  countries,  we  are 
told,  as  the  sound  of  a  bell  daily  for  a  few  minutes 
falls  on  the  ear,  the  devout  Mussulman,  however 
engaged,  even  laden  for  a  journey,  prostrates  him- 
self for  worship,  and  implores  the  benediction  of 
Allah.  We  have  longed  that  some  such  summons 
throughout  our  Christian  land  might  constrain  men 
to  bring  this  national  trouble,  this  heavy  burden, 
and  lying  with  it  at  the  Master's  feet,  to  find  for 
a  time  sweet  rest  and  refreshment  for  their  souls. 
He,  ministering  at  God's  altar,  who  with  placid, 
yea  rejoicing  mien,  as  though  in  holy  communion 
and  heartfelt  pleading  with  the  Spirit  for  stronger 
love  and  more  fervent  zeal  himself  had  tasted  and 
seen  that  the  Lord  is  gracious, — he,  who  thus 
"  taught  in  the  way"  should  have  led  the  torn, 
distracted  mind  to  the  source  of  soundness  and 
peace, — he,  who  not  only  should  have  nerved  the 


CO  THE   RIGHT    USE   OF    SPEECH. 

soul  for  the  conflict  with  earthly  foes,  if  such  he 
deemed  his  duty,  but  for  the  never-ending  strife 
with  far  more  formidable  opponents  to  its  pros- 
perity,— he  has  ofttimes  proved  recreant  to  his 
trust,  careless  of  souls,  and  unfaithful  to  God !  In 
the  darkness  which  has  covered  the  land,  we  have 
reason  to  fear  that  a  spirit  of  deep  spiritual  sleep 
has  closed  the  eyes  of  both  prophets  and  rulers. 
Spiritual  foes  have  bent  the  bow  and  drawn  the 
spear,  but  ye  have  not  gone  up  into  the  gaps, 
neither  made  up  the  hedge  for  us  to  stand  in 
the  battle  in  the  day  of  the  Lord !  Through  her 
ministers,  her  members,  her  services,  the  Church 
has  suffered  depreciation  and  violence.  The  stakes 
of  our  Zion  have  been  removed  and  her  cords 
broken.  Her  solemn  instruments  of  music  have 
toned  forth  on  theSabbath-day  our  jubilant  national 
airs,  instead  of  only  joining  in  sweet  accord  the 
voices  of  worshipping  assemblies  to  laud  and 
magnify  the  God  of  heaven  and  earth.     The  Sab- 


THE    RIGHT    USE   OF    SPEECH.  89 

bath  of  which  she  is  the  watchful  guardian,  has 
been  desecrated  under  the  sanctity  of  her  forms 
and  by  those  ministering  at  her  altars.  Numbers 
of  the  clergy,  pleading  the  emergency  of  the  time, 
on  that  day  have  hurried  from  their  pulpits  to 
procure  the  latest  public  intelligence,  and  to  dis- 
cuss eagerly  exciting  and  worldly  topics  with 
excited  and  worldly  men.  Christian  professors 
have  not  refrained  from  the  conversation  and 
avocations  of  the  week,  and  have  attempted  their 
justification  by  the  sophistry,  in  this  application,  of 
the  inseparable  connection  between  their  country's 
weal  and  their  Christian  faith.  Few  among  us, 
we  fear,  have  maintained  our  nearness  to  God, 
few  have  tasted  the  refreshing  from  his  presence, 
the  joy  of  that  indwelling,  which  only  the  humble 
and  contrite  heart,  the  peaceful  and  loving  spirit, 
can  experience.  We  shrink  from  short-sighted 
limitations,  from  individual  criticism,  from  censur- 
ing the  hungry  pickers  of  corn  on  the  Sabbath 

7* 


90  THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH. 

day ;  but  though  we  admit  the  existence  and  force 
of  exceptional  cases,  and  believe  that  the  Sabbath 
was  made  for  man  in  the  highest,  fullest,  broadest 
intention,  yet  will  we  not  let  our  liberty  in  some 
subordinate  sense  or  rarely  occurring  case,  destroy 
our  allegiance  to  the  law  of  God,  and  endanger 
our  priceless  and  divinely  conferred  possession.  If 
in  times  of  like  trial  we  cannot  preserve  the  integ- 
rity of  the  Sabbath,  how  can  we  expect  to  maintain 
its  influence  and  claim  its  benefit  ?  Comes  not 
now  unto  us  with  emphatic  appeal  the  word  of 
promise  ?  "  The  sons  of  the  stranger  that  join 
themselves  to  the  Lord  to  serve  him,  and  to  love 
the  name  of  the  Lord,  to  be  his  servants,  every 
one  that  keepeth  the  Sabbath  from  polluting  it, 
and  taketh  hold  of  my  covenant ;  even  them  will 
I  bring  to  my  holy  mountain,  and  make  them  joy- 
ful in  my  house  of  prayer — for  mine  house  shall 
be  called  a  house  of  prayer  for  all  people." 

We  have  marked  with  watchful  eye  and  often 


THE    RIGHT   USE   OF    SPEECH.  91 

troubled  spirit  the  progress  of  our  national  contest. 
But  no  connected  anxiety  for  self  or  country  has 
struck  such  root  into  our  souls  as  the  apprehension 
for  the  spiritual  life  of  the  Church  of  Christ.  We 
•believe  that  we  do  not  overestimate  the  peril  to 
which  it  is  exposed.  For  every  assertion  we  have 
made,  there  is  from  all  parts  of  our  land  sub- 
stantiating evidence  which,  we  have  ascertained 
even  while  writing  these  last  pages,  has  also 
proved  conclusive  to  other  observers.  Out  of 
the  abundance  of  our  conviction,  as  out  of  the 
abundance  of  our  love  for  the  Church  and  our 
reverence  for  her  ministers,  our  mouth  has  spoken 
this  message  of  warning  and  entreaty.  We  have 
not  presented  the  shrinkings  of  an  over  sensitive 
conscientiousness  from  the  novel  and  stern  en- 
counters of  the  time,  nor,  as  we  believe,  the 
unsubstantial  visions  and  causeless  terrors  of  an 
excited  imagination.  Still  less  have  we  designed 
a  covert  attack  on  any  denomination  or  its  repre- 


92  THE    RIGHT    USE   OF    SPEECH. 

sentatives  in  any  part  of  our  much  loved  and  un- 
happy country.  If  then,  Christian  reader,  our 
words  seem  earnest  more  than  the  occasion  de- 
mands, bear  with  us,  and  search  yourself  into  this 
matter.  Visibly  to  us  a  change  is  passing  over 
the  church  in  our  land.  Yet  do  we  take  heart.  It 
is  an  interest  which  more  trustfully  perhaps  than 
all  others  can  be  commifted  to  the  keeping  of  God. 
Not  alone  individual  or  inferior  considerations  dis- 
tinguish it,  but  such  as  pertain  to  the  world  of 
order  and  law — to  the  wider  world  and  every 
where  throbbing  heart  of  humanity.  If  in  relation 
to  any  temporal  interest, — if  we  may  so  designate 
the  preservation  and  prosperity  of  Christ's  church 
on  earth — we  find  assurances  heaped  upon  assu- 
rances, warnings  dealt  out  in  every  form  of 
predicted  temptation  and  contingent  suffering, 
instances  of  former  signal  deliverance  repeatedly 
and  urgently  adduced,  persuasives  to  submission 
and  trust  lavished  on  hard,  rebellious  man,  until 


THE    RIGHT    USE   OF    SPEECH.  93 

Divine  condescension  can  go  no  farther,  and  we 
are  fain  to  hide  our  faces  in  shame, — it  is  surely 
in  reference  to  this.  God's  own  people  who  ac- 
cept his  rule,  and  hold  fast  that  which  hath  been 
delivered  unto  them,  are  now,  as  were  the  Jews, 
the  subjects  of  his  promise  and  the  confident  ex- 
pectants of  its  fulfilment.  The  singular  position 
of  the  American  Republic,  the  absence  of  all  suffi- 
cient ground  for  calculation  as  to  its  future,  the 
character  of  the  sins  of  which  nation  and  church 
have  been  deeply  guilty,  the  prospect  of  ultimate 
deliverance,  and  the  merciful  enlightening  and 
restoration  which  most  heartily  we  implore  for 
all,  in  every  portion  of  our  Union,  who  through 
ignorance  or  evil-mindedness  have  divided  and 
desolated  this  goodly  heritage,  are  more  fully  con- 
veyed than  we  have  anywhere  seen  in  the  message 
of  the  prophet  Isaiah  to  his  own  people  : 

"  The  vision  of  all  is  become  unto  you  as  the 
words  of  a  book  that  is  sealed  which  men  deliver 


94  THE    RIGHT   USE    OF    SPEECH. 

to  one  that  is  learned,  saying,  Read  this,  I  pray 
thee  :  and  he  saith,  I  cannot ;  for  it  is  sealed :  and 
the  book  is  delivered  to  him  that  is  not  learned, 
saying,  Read  this,  I  pray  thee :  and  he  saith,  I 
am  not  learned.  Wherefore,  the  Lord  saith. 
Forasmuch  as  this  people  draw  near  me  with  their 
mouth,  and  with  their  lips  do  honour  me,  but  have 
removed  their  heart  far  from  me,  and  their  fear 
toward  me  is  taught  by  the  precept  of  men : 
therefore,  behold,  I  will  proceed  to  do  a  marvel- 
lous work  among  this  people,  even  a  marvellous 
work  and  a  wonder,  for  the  wisdom  of  their  wise 
men  shall  perish,  and  the  understanding  of  their 
prudent  men  shall  be  hid.  *  *  In  that  day  shall 
the  deaf  hear  the  words  of  the  book,  and  the  eyes 
of  the  blind  shall  see  out  of  obscurity  and  out  of 
darkness.  The  meek  also  shall  increase  their  joy 
in  the  Lord.  *  *  *  They  also  that  erred  in 
spirit  shall  come  to  understanding,  and  they  that 
murmured  shall  learn  doctrine." 


THE    RIGHT    USE   OF    SPEECH.  95 

Christian  fellow-countrymen !  what  more  need 
we  for  our  instruction  and  consolation?  Let  us 
be  content,  whether  "  learned"  or  "  not  learned" — 
whether  high  in  place  and  power,  familiar  with 
the  principles  and  application  of  law,  and  of  politi- 
cal and  military  science,  or  treading  in  humble 
ignorance  the  now  rugged  path  of  our  national 
experience,  that  the  book  of  our  destiny  is  sealed 
to  us.  Let  us  impress  deeply  on  our  minds,  that 
in  the  midst  of  remarkable  privileges,  and  with  a 
fuller  possession  than  exists  in  any  other  land  of 
the  forms  and  methods,  the  appliances  and  aids — 
the  whole  external,  in  short,  of  Christian  instruc- 
tion and  practice,  we  have  neglected  to  cultivate 
the  spirit  of  humility,  meekness,  docility,  self- 
watchfulness,  and  absolute  dependence  on  the 
word  of  God,  as  the  means  of  self-acquaintance 
and  of  direction  in  all  our  affairs.  Let  us  view  in 
the  frustrating  of  many  well  planned  schemes,  and 
the  disappointment  of  many  a  cherished  hope,  the 


96  THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH. 

signally  disjjlayed  dealing  of  our  God  who  has  thus 
caused  to  perish  the  results  of  what  we  had  deemed 
unfailing  calculation,  in  order,  perhaps,  that  we 
may  now  call  upon  his  name,  and  be  stirred  up  to 
take  hold  of  him,  and  in  this  returning  and  rest 
may  find  safety,  and  strength  in  this  quietness  and 
confidence.  Let  us  keep  down  the  risings  of 
hatred  and  revenge,  the  promptings  of  our  unre- 
newed, unsoftened  nature  in  regard  to  those  who 
have  conscientiously  differed  from  us  or  maliciously 
assailed  us.  To  God  can  we  leave  the  judgment 
concerning  them.  He  is  able  to  bring  the  terrible 
one  to  nought,  to  consume  the  scorner,  to  cut  ofi' 
all  that  watch  for  iniquity ;  and,  we  rejoice  to 
think,  as  able  to  cause  the  heart  of  the  rash  to 
understand  knowledge,  and  to  pour  out  his  Spirit 
from  on  high  till  the  wilderness  of  our  national 
desolation  be  once  more  a  fruitful  field,  where 
judgment  shall  dwell  and  righteousness  remain 
forever. 


THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH.  97 

We  have  wandered  not  without  design  from 
the  consideration  of  our  main  topic.  It  is  our 
conviction  that  the  decay  throughout  our  country 
and  the  church  of  spiritual  life  is  attributable, 
more  than  to  any  definite  and  tangible  cause,  to 
the  abuse  of  speech.  We  have  endeavored  to  trace 
how  the  evil  has  operated  in  its  public  and  private 
developments,  and  to  indicate  the  heart  burnings, 
obstinate  prejudice,  and  virulence  of  sentiment, 
which  the  constant  irritation  of  ungoverned  tongues 
has  occasioned.  A  prevailing  disregard  for  truth 
and  accurate  representation ;  an  extravagant  expres- 
sion of  attachment  to  one  set  of  opinions  which 
runs  into  vehement  denunciation  of  the  opposite, 
and  into  the  sneers  and  taunts  of  low  invective ; 
the  ceaseless,  often  aimless,  profitless  discussion 
of  the  whole  subject,  have  disturbed  our  mental 
equilibrium,  and  incapacitated  us  for  such  appre- 
hension of  pending  questions  as  their  magnitude 
and  singular  complication  demands.     Our  eyes  are 

9 


98  THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH. 

shut  that  they  cannot  see,  and  our  hearts,  that 
they  cannot  understand. 

Who  among  us  will  give  ear  to  this?  Who  will 
hearken  and  hear  for  the  time  to  come  ?  We  be- 
lieve that  to  private  Christians  is  committed,  as 
well  as  to  the  appointed  watchmen  upon  the  walls, 
the  care  of  the  church.  No  rest  must  they  give 
to  their  souls  until,  in  their  own  persons  and  in 
the  sphere  of  their  influence,  her  righteousness 
go  forth  as  brightness,  and  her  salvation  as  a  lamp 
that  burneth.  Abiding  in  the  study  of  the  word 
of  God,  in  fervent  prayer,  in  never  relaxed  watch- 
fulness over  their  processes  of  thought  and  every 
utterance  of  the  tongue,  in  the  exercise  of  a 
patient,  meek,  forgiving  spirit,  they  shall  find 
their  own  spiritual  enlargement  and  supply;  and 
by  the  united  action  of  such  faithful  husbandmen, 
the  church  shall  become  a  garden  of  the  Lord, 
wherein  shall  be  found  "joy  and  gladness,  thanks- 
giving and  the  voice  of  melody." 


CHAPTER   VII. 

THE  RIGHT  USE  OF  THE  TONGUE. 

Thus  far  in  the  examination  of  our  topic  we 
have  viewed  it  in  a  negative  rather  than  positive 
form.  We  have  attempted  to  present  the  import- 
ance of  governing  the  tongue,  and  to  point  out  the 
abuses  rather  than  the  higher  uses  of  speech.  It 
remains  for  us  to  ask,  For  what  objects  other  than 
the  fulfilling  of  our  physical  requirements,  and  in 
what  mode,  is  the  tongue  to  be  employed  ? 

In  such  analysis  as  we  have  been  able  to  con- 
duct, we  find  that,  strictly  speaking,  there  is  but 
one  quality  of  speech.  Truth  is  the  only  relation 
which  it  can  be  said  to  sustain,  for  language  is  but 
the  representative  of  facts  whether  sensible  or 
spiritual.     Many  other  characteristics  in  common 


100  THE    RIGHT   USE    OF    SPEECH. 

parlance  are  attributed  to  it,  as  purity,  reverence, 
humility,  and  their  opposites,  but  these  are  quali- 
ties of  the  thought  of  which  speech  is  the  ex- 
ponent. Truth,  as  regards  language,  is  simply 
the  correspondence  of  the  word  or  sign  with  the 
thought  or  thing  signified.  Let  us  dwell  for  a 
moment  on  this  greatest,  noblest  quality  of  all 
thought  and  action.  Truth  expresses  the  relation 
to  what  is,  i.  e.,  to  God  himself  and  the  constitu- 
tion of  his  creation  and  government.  That  relation 
subsists  in  all  modes  and  forms  of  being,  and  might 
be  termed  a  perceived  conformity  to  natural  and 
moral  appearances  and  laws.  Beauty  is  such  only 
because  it  is  truth;  not  that  truth  constitutes 
beauty,  but  that  beauty  can  not  exist  without 
conformity  to  a  standard,  which  is  truth  in  out- 
line, in  color,  in  motion,  in  relation.  In  all  ideas 
and  objects  there  exist  a  quality  and  relation,  and 
truth  is  simply  the  developing  of  these.  In  moral 
action,  it   is  the  relation  in  thought,  word,  and 


THE    RIGHT    USE   OF    SPEECH.  101 

deed,  to  the  Divine  character  and  will  as  revealed 
in  the  Bible  and  partially  conveyed  in  creation. 
Truth  is  the  basis  of  our  reverence  to  God,  of  our 
hopes  of  heaven,  of  our  self-culture,  and  our  best 
and  imperishable  affections.  It  is  the  end  of  all 
investigation,  and  is  the  consummation  of  all  pro- 
gress and  happiness  ;  for  it  is  in  heaven  the  com- 
pleted relation  of  the  creature  to  the  Creator,  the 
assimilation  and  union  of  all  spiritual  being.  Truth 
like  faith,  like  every  moral  quality  but  charity  or 
love,  has  no  longer  a  name  in  heaven,  for  the  re- 
lation becomes  the  standard,  or  rather,  where  all 
is  truth,  it  ceases  to  be  a  standard,  and  universal 
unity  precludes  relation.  Truth  embraces  all  moral 
excellence.  Honesty  is  one  form  or  application 
of  truth,  benevolence,  another.  Gentleness  and 
patience,  humihty  and  tender-heartedness — this 
last  often  considered  only  a  natural  endowment,  but 
surely  a  grace  also,  to  be  cultivated  and  increased 
like  any  other, — taste,  as  applied  to  all  literary  or 

9* 


102  THE    RIGHT   USE    OF    SPEECH. 

artistic  productions,  to  manner,  dress,  language, 
to  all  mental  and  physical  culture  and  social  inter- 
course,— all  are  modes  of  the  application  of  truth, 
all  are  streams  flowing  in  different  directions  from 
one  full  fountain.  The  analysis  is  not  always 
readily  made,  but  so  far  as  we  can  conduct  it,  it 
has  to  our  apprehension  been  unfailing.  If  truth 
then  embraces  all  moral  excellence,  in  its  fullest 
development  it  constitutes  the  perfection  of  heaven. 
God  is  truth ;  and,  did  it  not  seem  an  approach  to 
the  pantheistic  rant  of  the  present  day,  we  could 
almost  exclaim,  truth  is  God  ! — so  fully  does  truth 
constitute,  represent,  define  his  being.  God  is 
love.  But  what  were  his  love,  his  omniscience,  his 
omnipresence,  his  omnipotence  without  truth.  His 
justice  is  truth  in  action,  his  mercy,  truth  in  appli- 
cation, his  holiness,  truth  to  his  own  nature  so  de- 
veloped and  expressed  that  created  mind  may 
behold  and  adore  it  forever.  Blessed  Truth  !  May 
the  Spirit  guide  us  into  it,  enable  us  to  abide  in  it, 


THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH.  103 

and  through  all  eternity  satisfy  with  it  our  now 
longing,  and,  perchance,  darkened  and  despairing 
souls ! 

In  ordinary  human  intercourse,  the  partial  oral 
suppression  of  many  facts  and  depending  relations 
of  our  physical  and  social  being,  is  the  supervening 
necessity  of  a  corrupted  nature,  and  the  guard  of 
an  order  which  cannot  be  maintained  without  it. 
In  the  early  and  sinless  period  of  man's  history,  as 
the  body  required  no  covering,  so  language  furnished 
no  half-exhibited  meaning.  But  when  sin  reigned 
in  the  body,  a  check  to  its  promptings  was  de- 
manded, if  only  for  the  integrity  and  perpetuity  of 
the  social  compact.  It  was  provided  in  the  giving 
of  the  moral  law.  Subordinate  restraints  were  by 
degrees  supplied  and  adapted  according  to  exigen- 
cies of  climate,  color,  and  degrees  of  civilization. 
Language  passed  through  a  like  process  of  modi- 
fication and  development,  and  afforded  another 
means  of  moral  discipline.     In  its  legitimate  use, 


104  THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH. 

as  far  as  general  social  intercourse  is  concerned, 
the  avenues  to  forbidden  thoughts  are  closed.  It 
must  not  reproduce  the  buried  forms  of  prohibited 
conceptions.  Thus  were  established  the  ordinary 
and  now  almost  universal  rules  of  propriety  in 
conduct  and  language.  They  were  of  prime  neces- 
sity in  all  social  intercourse.  With  that  proneness 
to  excess  which  characterizes  every  humanly  sus- 
tained arrangement,  this  purification  of  language 
has  run  into  fastidiousness  and  perversion  of  fact; 
and,  applied  not  only  to  a  few  simple  conceptions, 
but  to  their  complex  and  multiform  derivatives, 
has  become  the  false  show  of  virtue  and  the  opposer 
of  truth.  Manner  and  speech,  rescued  from  license, 
come  again  under  bonds  to  formal,  vapid,  heart- 
less, and  prescribed  expression.  Thought  and 
emotion  cannot  pass  the  barriers  of  worldly  con- 
ventionalism, and  are  inert,  rigid,  dead  to  their 
true  and  appointed  exercise.  And  yet  not  with- 
out reason  have  these  barriers  been  erected.  There 


THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH.  105 

exists  a  necessity  for  this  factitious  social  order, 
for  these  outworks  of  defence  to  our  personal  feel- 
ings and  practice — a  necessity  springing  not  from 
the  absence,  but  from  the  presence  of  civilization 
and  refinement.  In  the  encounters  of  social  life, 
we  are  not  in  these  days  often  hurled  to  the 
ground  by  the  bold  and  direct  assault  of  reviling 
and  railing  accusation,  of  clamorous  reproach  and 
evil  speaking.  There  is  a  disguised  uncharitable- 
ness  which  like  the  "hinder  end"  of  the  spear 
shall  smite  under  the  fifth  rib,  and  let  out  the  life 
of  tranquillity  and  content.  There  are  poisoned 
arrows  of  sarcasm  and  detraction  which  graze  some 
unprotected  part,  and  straight  the  soundness  of 
our  good  name  and  social  confidence  becomes  an 
ever-rankling  and  putrefying  sore  of  prejudice  and 
distrust.  That  defence  which  modern  science 
supplies  against  such  sly  attack  is  a  panoply  of 
self-concealment  and  withholding.  "  Je  suis  sur  la 
defensive  avec  la  society,  et  cest  ainsi  quit  faut 


106  THE    RIGHT   USE   OF    SPEECH. 

etrer  But  this  caution,  valuable  as  a  protection, 
may  so  invest  and  envelop  the  man  as  to  trammel 
every  movement  and  paralyze  that  confidence  in  self 
and  others,  without  which  there  is  no  free  action, 
no  continued  effort,  no  generous  strain  of  every 
energy,  no  Christian  working,  sympathy,  or  suc- 
cess. We  propose  no  tolerance  of  grossness, 
bluntness,  of  harshness  which  assumes  to  be  plain 
dealing;  nordo  we  recommend  what  Lord  Bacon  calls 
the  discharging  of  the  mind  in  opposition  to  its  impart- 
ing^— a  practice  not  only  unsafe  and  generally  inex- 
pedient, but  enfeebling  in  its  influence  and  wholly 
inimical  to  that  personal  training  which  cannot  be 
otherwise  than  self-conducted.  But  we  would 
urge  that  the  spirit  of  Christianity  be  infused  into 
every  social  arrangement ;  and,  sustained  by  that 
Bible  precept,  "  whatsoever  ye  do,  do  all  to  the 
glory  of  God,"  we  would  declare  to  Christians  the 
obligation  to  see  to  it  that  no  artificial  observance, 
no  merely  worldly  code,  however  wise  and  effective 


THE    RIGHT   USE   OF    SPEECH.  107 

in  its  own  sphere  of  operation,  no  personal  fastidi- 
ousness or  conventional  refinement,  shall  be  suf- 
fered to  trench  upon  that  Christian  service,  which, 
with  its  reward,  is  the  end  of  our  earthly  being. 
Render  unto  the  world  those  things  which  fairly, 
by  the  ordering  of  God,  belong  to  it ;  but  in  so 
doing,  make  not  the  fearful  mistake  of  withdraw- 
ing from  him  that  tribute  which  in  his  Word  he 
has  declared  to  be  his  due.  Let  us  state  the 
matter  more  exactly.  The  Christian  is  not  unscrip- 
turally  to  view  himself  out  of  Christ,  and  as  yield- 
ing to  him  a  portion  of  the  fruits  of  his  natural 
endowments  and  imparted  grace.  A  partial  devo- 
tion, even  of  the  best,  an  offering  of  some  choice 
possession,  is  after  all  a  Jewish  and  legal  notion. 
This  self-denial,  this  stretching  up  to  some  self- 
erected  standard,  this  stint  here  and  liberty  there, 
is  but  a  poor  understanding  of  Christian  being  and 
action.  "  We  are  members  of  his  bod}^,  of  his 
flesh,  and   of  his  bones."     We   have   not  yet  at- 


108  THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH. 

tained  "  unto  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the 
fulness  of  Christ :  *  *  *  but  speaking  the  truth  in  love" 
— mark  what  honor  is  here  given  to  the  tongue — 
"  may  grow  up  unto  him  in  all  things,  which  is  the 
head,  even  Christ :  from  whom  the  whoJe  body, 
fitly  joined  together  and  compacted  by  that  which 
every  joint  supplieth,  *  *  *  maketh  increase  *  *  *." 
There  are  many  illustrations  of  the  believer's  union 
to  Christ,  but  this  is  a  more  precious  figure  which 
declares  not  union  but  unity.  Sheep  of  whom  he 
is  Shepherd;  coheirs  by  their  adoption  of  the 
privileges  of  his  Sonship  ;  friends  in  contradistinc- 
tion to  servants ;  lively  stones,  "  built  up  a  spiritual 
house  with  him  the  living  stone;" — in  such  variety 
of  exhibition  must  Christians  discern  their  near- 
ness to  Christ  and  his  abiding  love  for  his  chosen 
ones.  But  to  hold  Christ  as  the  Head  from  which 
all  our  body,  "  by  joints  and  bands  having  nourish- 
ment ministered  and  knit  together,  increaseth  ^i'zV^ 
the  increase  of  God" — to   be  "  complete  in   him ;" 


THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH.  109 

"rooted  and  built  up  in  him;"  to  "walk"  in  him; 
to  be  "  buried  with  him  in  baptism  ;"  to  be  "  quick- 
ened together  with  him,"  who  has  not  only  blot- 
ted out  the  handwriting  of  ordinances  that  was 
against  us,  but  has  taken  it  "out  of  the  way, 
nailing  it  to  his  cross,"  so  that  it  could  in  no  man- 
ner be  replaced  on  record;    so  that  our  offence 
might  forever  be  cancelled  in  his  free  gift,  and 
that  as  the  worth  of  the  sacrifice  so  might  be  the 
fulness  of  the  remission — what  a  view  have  we 
here  of  the  Christian's  life  in  Christ — the  "  life 
hid  with  Christ  in  God  !"     Do  we  ask  what  is  the 
consistent  and  analogous   consummation   of  such 
earthly  privilege  ?     "  When  Christ  who  is  our  life 
shall  appear,  then  shall  ye  also  appear  with  him 
in  glory."     Joined  to  him  here,  you  shall  not  be 
divided  from  him  there.     The  Father  in  the  Son, 
the  Son  in  the  Father,  you  in  them,  "changed 
into  the  same  image,"  "  filled  with  all  the  fulness 
of  God  !"     Not  with  these  eartl^ly  eyes  can  we 

10 


110  THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH. 

steadfastly  behold  the  glory  of  such  a  revealing, 
but  not  the  less  are  these  promises  of  God  in  Christ, 
Yea,  and  in  him,  Amen,  unto  the  glory  of  God  by  us ! 
The  rule  of  our  speech,  its  highest  end,  its 
distinguishing  and  honorable  mark,  is  furnished 
by  the  Apostle  James, — therewith  Mess  we  God. 
In  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  words,  this  is  the 
recognized  duty  and  precious  privilege  of  adora- 
tion and  thanksgiving.  It  is  to  honor  our  Maker, 
to  speak  on  earth  the  praise  which  from  thousand 
times  ten  thousand  heavenly  tongues  resounds 
now  and  evermore.  Not  the  smallest  j)art  of 
Christian  joy  is  in  this  blessing  of  God,  which 
lifts  us  awhile  over  self,  unites  us  in  service  to 
saints  above,  and  conducts  us  into  that  Presence 
which  we  so  long  to  abide  in  forever,  but  which 
we  now  so  dimly  perceive.  There  are  seasons, 
as  in  unexpected  deliverances;  in  similar  relief 
obtained  from  some  new  view  of  truth,  or  of  a 
once  mysterious  dealing  which  events  have  made 


THE   RIGHT    USE   OF    SPEECH.  Ill 

clear;  in  witnessing  the  peaceful  death  of  the 
righteous;  in  observing  the  progress  or  happy  re- 
sult of  plans  of  benevolence ;  above  all,  perhaps, 
in  beholding  the  work  of  grace  in  the  heart — the 
change  from  corruption  and  debasement  to  purity 
and  holiness — there  are,  we  say,  seasons  when 
there  is  no  vent  for  our  emotions  but  in  prostra- 
tion of  body  and  soul  in  joyful  acknowledgment — 
in  ascriptions  of  praise  and  outpourings  of  thanks- 
giving. At  such  times  we  come  near  to  our  God, 
and  seem  to  catch  the  tones  and  prolong  the  echo 
of  angel  voices.  Then  is  there  sweet  communion 
with  saints,  and  fellowship  with  the  Father  and 
his  Son  Jesus  Christ.  These  are  prelibations  of 
the  fount  of  blessedness;  soft  airs  from  the  atmo- 
sphere of  heaven ;  strains  of  that  seraphic  melody 
which  forever  surrounds  the  throne;  and  visions 
of  that  enchanting  scenery,  which  we  would  fain 
believe  the  redeemed  shall  behold  in  the  new  earth, 
and  under  the  new  and  imperishable  heaven ! 


112  THE    RIGHT    USE   OF    SPEECH. 

But  even  this  mode  of  blessing  God  would  form 
but  a  portion  of  our  enjoyment  in  such  use  of  the 
tongue,  as  it  would  constitute  but  an  imperfect 
performance  of  the  prescribed  duty.  It  is  not 
alone  in  direct  address  that  we  are  called  upon  to 
bless  God.  There  is  a  generally  practised  reve- 
rence which  is  dictated  by  the  prevalence  of  the 
Christian  religion  and  the  consequent  refinements 
of  civilization  and  education,  and  in  a  measure  by 
the  mysteries  of  the  outer  and  inner  world,  and  the 
depending  questionings,  fears,  and  hopes  of  man's 
nature.  An  open  irreverence,  repellent  both  to 
taste  and  common  sense,  and  reckless  of  the 
spiritual  truths  which  most  men  contemplate  in 
awe,  at  least,  if  not  with  faith,  incurs,  more  than 
most  offences  against  good  order  and  decency, 
public  abhorrence  and  reprehension.  It  is  true 
there  is  an  irreverence  as  real,  if  not  so  patent;  an 
irreverence  veiled  often  in  tasteful  and  even  Chris- 
tian forms  of  expression ;  an  irreverence  which 


TEH    RIGHT    USE   OF    SPEECH.  113 

jars  on  the  ear  and  grieves  the  heart  of  a  true  and 
loving  disciple  of  Christ.  There  is  often  a  care- 
less or  jocose  application  of  sentiment,  or  of  words 
and  phrases  which,  if  not  strictly  sacred,  become 
consecrate  from  their  frequent  scriptural  use  and 
peculiar  adaptation.  There  is  often  in  public 
extempore  prayer  an  excessive  and  inconsiderate 
use  of  the  names  of  God.  The  untrained  in 
this  exercise  fill  the  gaps  of  their  petitions  and 
give  new  impetus  to  their  fluency,  by  needless 
and  often  inappropriate  invocation;  and  the  public 
speaker  rounds  his  periods  and  solemnizes  his 
sentiment  by  the  same  unwarranted  introduction 
of  the  Divine  name.  Theologians,  to  our  think- 
ing, often  forget  the  ground  on  which  they  stand, 
in  stating  too  confidently  the  laws  of  God's  nature 
and  rules  of  his  government.  We  are  displeased 
with  the  expressions,  God  cannot  do  this,  God 
will  never  decree  or  permit  that.     For  ourselves, 

we  discover  but  one   semblance   of  warrant  for 

lo* 


114  THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH. 

such  language;  and  if  the  Apostle's  declaration 
of  Divine  consistency — "  He  cannot  deny  him- 
self," be  understood  to  announce  a  limitation  of 
Divine  ability,  it  becomes  an  empty  quibble,  for  it 
is  but  saying  that  his  nature  is  w^hat  it  is.  We 
need  less  positiveness,  less  dogmatism,  less  leaning 
to  the  human  understanding,  in  the*  treatment  of 
theological  questions.  There  is  danger,  it  is  true, 
of  an  ill-assured  and  trembling  hold  on  truth;  of 
such  over-scrupulous  and  uncordial  adoption  of 
opinion,  that  whatever  is  solid  and  valuable  escapes 
from  the  grasp,  and  is  lost  for  all  valuable  appli- 
cation. But  let  us  not  rush  as  the  horse  into  the 
battle  field  into  the  investigation  of  Divine  truth. 
So  doing,  we  shall  but  cast  ourselves  on  the  thick 
bosses  of  his  buckler.  "  He  giveth  not  account  of 
any  of  his  ways ;"  and  if  he  reveal  his  "  secret," 
it  is  not  to  those  who  question  much  concerning 
him,  but  to  such  as  "fear"  or  reverence  him.  Let 
God  be  exalted  in  all  our  apprehension,  in  all  our 


THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH.  115 

investigation  and  utterance  concerning  him.  We 
plead  not  that  his  name  be  incommunicable  as  the 
title  Jehovah  w;is  held  among  the  Jews.  No!  he 
is  ow  God,  and  we  may  make  mention  of  him  as 
such  and  call  upon  his  name.  Let  us  use  as  we 
ought  this  precious  privilege.  We  err  also  in  an- 
other direction,  and  often  from  a  conscientious 
motive.  We  employ,  in  using  the  name  of  God, 
every  mode  of  designation  but  the  one  which 
directly  presents  him.  We  resort  to  circumlocu- 
tion; we  shrink  from  expressing  the  greatness  of 
his  being  in  one  all  comprehending  term.  We 
designate  him  by  an  attribute  or  manifestation, 
and  habitually  style  him  the  Omniscient,  the 
Creator,  Providence.  In  certain  connections  such 
terms  are  appropriate.  But  apart  from  special 
application,  we  find  the  use  of  them,  in  common 
conversation  or  in  pulpit  address,  an  avoidance  of 
our  due  but  unwillingly  assumed  responsibility  of 
blessing  God, — a  more  cowardly  than  reverent  with- 


116  THE   RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH. 

drawing  from  the  creature's  duty  of  humble  but 
hearty  acknowledgment  of  his  Creator's  rule  and 
right.  But  all  precept  touching  outward  reverence 
is  of  no  avail,  unless  its  principle  be  firmly  estab- 
lished in  the  heart.  That  principle  is  formed  of 
Christian  belief,  of  self-acquaintance,  of  constant, 
earnest,  spiritual  contemplation — perhaps  more 
properly,  of  that  supreme  love  to  God  which  is  the 
work  alone  of  the  Spirit,  and  the  convincing 
evidence  to  the  sinner  himself  of  his  changed 
relation,  his  pardon,  and  reconciliation.  Such  a 
reverence  marks  the  man  who  habitually  honors 
the  name,  the  day,  the  word  of  God;  who  care- 
fully watches  over  and  zealously  defends  the 
bulwarks  of  Christianity;  who  vindicates  the  pro- 
vidence of  God  and  loves  his  people;  who  has, 
even  at  the  least,  that  concern  for  the  cause  and 
interests  of  his  Lord  that  we  are  wont  to  manifest 
for  some  best  loved  earthly  friend.  How  regardful 
are  we  of  the  person,  the  feelings,  the  reputation 


THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH.  117 

of  that  friend!  How  do  we  ward  off  all  rough 
handling,  and  withstand  all  abrupt  approach! 
How  keen  our  eye,  how  attent  our  ear,  how  ready 
our  tongue,  how  nice  our  tact  to  discern  the 
threatened  attack,  to  anticipate  the  sentiment  that 
may  displease,  the  reference  that  shall  wound ! 
Is  it  less  that  we  will  do  for  God  our  Father,  for 
God  our  elder  Brother,  our  Teacher,  our  Master, 
our  heavenly  Friend  ?  It  is  told  of  Robert  Boyle 
that  he  never  mentioned  the  name  of  God  without 
a  previous  momentary  pause.  If  we  hesitate  to 
make  such  apparent  preparation  for  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  holy  name,  still,  may  there  not  be  "an 
upward  glancing"  of  the  mental  eye,  a  motion  of 
reverence  and  love  towards  Him  who  understands 
our  thought  affxr  off,  and  who  knoweth  altogether 
every  word  of  our  tongue?  Why  are  we  willing 
to  be  so  far  from  Him?  It  is  not  altogether  the 
vision  of  heated  enthusiasm,  the  morbid  fancy  of 
a  recluse  or  ascetic,  but  in  a  measure  the  blessed 


118  THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH. 

experience  of  the  Christian  that  one  may  abide 
with  Christ,  walk  with  him  in  the  way,  sit  with 
him  at  the  feast  as  a  loving  disciple,  and  sleep 
pillowed  on  his  bosom.  Amidst  the  noise  of 
tongues  and  the  bustle  of  the  crowd,  in  the  rapid 
flow  of  thought  and  the  exhilaration  of  lawful 
merriment  within  the  social  circle,  in  the  hurry 
and  excitement  of  travel,  or  in  the  quiet  of  the 
chamber  of  sickness,  there  shall  come,  if  you  seek 
it,  the  peaceful  sense  of  his  presence,  the  uplifting 
of  your  soul  into  a  region  of  holy  calm,  where, 
safe  and  at  rest,  you  gaze  on  worldly  scenes  with 
moderated  interest  and  emotion.  A  benign  coun- 
tenance shall  to  your  thought  beam  with  compla- 
cency and  tenderness;  the  eye  which  fixed  on 
Peter  brought  him  to  his  right  mind  and  filled 
him  with  penitence,  shall  seem  in  its  grave 
kindliness  to  rest  on  you,  to  soften  your  grief, 
regulate  your  mirth,  and  elevate  your  soul.  If 
thus  you  are  ever  mindful  of  Christ,  shall  not  your 


THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH.  119 

tongue  bless  him  in  ratifying  his  commands,  in 
asserting  your  union  to  him,  and  confessing  the 
purposed  devotion  of  all  that  you  have  and  are  to 
his  service  ?  Will  you  not  urge  others  to  love  this 
supremely  lovely  Saviour?  will  you  not  defend 
him  against  the  aspersions  of  his  open  contemners, 
and  denounce  the  faithlessness  of  his  nominal  ad- 
herents, no  matter  how  honorable  they  may  be  in 
human  estimation,  how  accomplished  in  mental 
endowments  and  culture,  how  adorned  with  the 
graces  of  person  and  manner,  how  endowed  with 
keen  sensibilities  and  earnest  affections?  Will 
you  not  cherish  all  that  reveals  Christ  more  per- 
fectly, that  extends  his  influence,  that  increases 
his  honor?  Will  you  be  silent  when  such  a 
theme  demands  your  utterance  ?  There  is  a 
wise,  an  effective,  an  appropriate  silence;  but 
there  is  also  among  Christians  an  "idle  silence," 
for  which  they  must  give  account  in  the  day  of 
reckoning  for  the  use  of  intrusted  talents.     An 


120  THE    RIGHT    USE   OF    SPEECH. 

old  proverb  tells  us,  wisely  only  in  some  appli- 
cation, that  speech  is  silvern,  hut  silence  is  ff olden. 
Like  many  an  adage,  it  sacrifices  truth  to  terse- 
ness and  laconism,  or,  at  least,  presents  a  half 
truth,  often  more  mischievous  than  none. 

Not  many  years  have  passed  since  there  came, 
for  a  short  season  to  our  country  on  a  gospel  mis- 
sion, one  who,  in  our  hearing,  urged  on  Christians 
more  zeal  and  boldness  in  the  department  of  the 
Master's  service  which  we  have  undertaken  to 
consider.  We  partially  recall  his  words,  and  en- 
tirely the  thought  which  they  conveyed  with 
remarkable  force  and  beauty.  He  had  travelled 
in  many  lands,  he  had  sojourned  with  the  poor  in 
their  humble  abodes,  and  with  the  great  and  rich 
in  their  splendid  mansions.  He  had  been  a  listener 
when  topics  were  discussed  with  all  the  power  of 
intellect  and  the  charms  of  fancy.  But  how 
rarely  in  the  gay  or  literary  assemblage,  or  even 
in  the  familiar  home  life  of  the  Christian,  had  he 


THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH.  121 

heard  the  name  more  precious  than  any  other 
name!  Of  all  else  Christians  can  speak.  For 
other  interests  can  they  argue  and  prevail;  but 
how  little  find  they  to  say  for  their  Saviour,  how 
unwilling  are  they  to  "  speak  for  Jesus !"  The 
tones  of  the  preacher  still  linger  on  our  ear;  still 
our  heart  thrills  at  his  appeal;  now,  as  then, 
roused  by  his  most  reasonable,  if  impassioned, 
pleading,  there  springs  up  within  us  the  per- 
chance self-confident  and  vain  resolve — Though 
all  should  betray  thee  by  their  speech,  or  deny 
thee  by  their  silence,  yet  will  not  I! 

Speak  then,  fellow  Christian,  for  Jesus.  Speak 
of  his  character,  his  blessed  purpose  in  coming  into 
the  world,  of  his  infinite  compassion  and  power  to 
save.  Hasten  to  speak  for  Jesus  to  your  child, 
who,  with  asking  eye  uplifted  to  yours,  waits  at 
your  side  to  learn  the  reason  of  things  around  him 
— the  answer  to  the  ever  propounded   question. 

Whence  am  I  and  whfther  am  I  going  ?     Tell  him 
11 


122  THE    RIGHT    USE    OP    SPEECH. 

the  story  which  with  God's  blessing  shall  be  to 
his  soul  the  well-spring  of  truth  for  time,  the  foun- 
tain of  bliss  for  eternity.  Speak  for  Jesus  to  yon 
wretched  wanderer  from  the  ways  of  purity ;  nor, 
wrapped  in  your  unsullied  garment  of  outward  pro- 
priety and  respectability,  shrink  from  pollution  of 
which  the  Holy  Son  of  God  could  endure  the  con- 
tact, in  order  both  to  rebuke — with  what  a  match- 
less grace ! — the  offence,  and  to  deliver  the  of- 
fender from  the  scorn  and  persecution  of  no  less 
guilty  accusers.  Speak  for  Jesus  to  the  dying, 
and  delay  not  with  your  scruples  as  to  mode  and 
occasion,  for  already  the  film  of  death  glazes  the 
eye,  and  the  ear  can  catch  little  else  than  the  only 
name  given  under  heaven,  whereby  men  can  be 
saved.  One  confession  of  sin  and  of  God's  justice 
— "  we  indeed  justly ;  for  we  receive  the  due  re- 
ward of  our  deeds ;"  one  petition — ''  Lord  re- 
member me ;"  and  heaven  may  shout  forth  its  two- 
fold joy  over  one  repenting  and  home-returning  soul! 


THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH.  123 

And  not  alone  to  these,  but  speak  for  Jesus  to 
them  who  thmk  they  have  a  name  to  live,  and 
yet,  by  all  Scripture  tests,  seem  to  you  to  be  dead. 
Speak  for  him  to  the  self-honoring  and  confident 
disciple ;  to  the  minister  who  has  the  worldliness 
not  of  wealth,  or  place,  or  power,  of  dress  or  fashion, 
or  immoderate  social  intercourse,  but  the  world- 
liness, alas!  of  religion — the  worldliness  of  self-gra- 
tulation  over  a  crowded,  wealthy,  and  influential 
church ;  the  worldliness  of  a  name  for  talent  and 
eloquence,  or,  more  dangerous  still,  of  a  reputation 
for  Christian  attainment  and  devoted  ness;  the 
worldliness  of  weight  in  ministerial  councils,  of 
scholarly  accomjDlishment,  of  pastoral  popularity ; 
aye — even  so  far  may  the  dying  man  who  speaks 
to  dying  men  forget  his  character  and  office — the 
worldliness  of  personal  comeliness,  of  melodious 
voice,  and  graceful  gesture. 

Do  3''0u  ask  how  you  are  to  become  thus  earn- 
est and  bold  in  utterance ;  how,  consistently  with 


124  THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH. 

established  rules  of  social  intercourse,  you  are  thus 
persistently,  pointedly,  faithfully,  to  speak  for  and 
of  your  Saviour?  We  can  only  bid  you  learn 
what  is  meant  by  love  for  souls — an  expression  so 
common  as  to  be  often  of  small  significancy,  tacked 
to  a  description  or  petition,  set  forth  prominently 
among  spiritual  technicalities.  But  if  there  be 
sometimes  a  counterfeit  presentment,  it  but  proves 
the  existence  of  a  real  form  and  power.  There 
may  be,  there  is  in  the  Christian  a  love  for  souls, 
an  unquenchable  desire  to  win  them  to  Christ,  to 
holiness,  to  heaven.  There  is  a  yearning  that 
nothing  will  satisfy  but  continued  effort  to  secure 
not  only  the  salvation  but  the  sanctrfication  of  the 
soul,  a  yearning  to  witness  its  progress  in  the 
divine  life,  the  increase  of  its  stature  and  the 
fulness  of  its  development  into  "a  perfect  man." 
Not  only  in  the  breast  of  the  Apostle  Paul 
did  the  longing  arise  "  to  impart  unto  you  some 
spiritual   gift   to   the    end   that  ye   may  be    es- 


THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH.  125 

tablished."  His  true  successors  in  both  office  and 
devotedness,  and  those  to  whom  also,  in  fact,  if 
not  in  form,  a  dispensation  of  the  gospel  is  com- 
mitted, feel  ever  the  weight  of  that  necessity  to 
gain  both  them  that  are  without  law,  and  them  who 
nominally  only  are  under  the  law  of  Christianity — 
by  all  means  to  save  some.  This  anguish  of  desire 
— this  "  woe  is  unto  me,  if  I  preach  not  the  gospel !" 
how  it  pervades  Paul's  writings !  how  it  has 
filled  the  heart  of  many  a  disciple  since,  who, 
called  to  hold  forth  the  word  of  life,  has  been  in 
such  ministry  counted  faithful  to  the  trust  com- 
mitted to  him — the  trust  of  the  glorious  gospel 
of  the  blessed  God  !  With  such  love  for  souls, 
whatever  the  obstacles  of  your  temperament  or 
training,  whatever  restraints  may  be  dictated  by 
the  conventional  wisdom  which  not  unfrequently 
runs  into  spiritual  folly,  you  cannot  but  give  ex- 
pression to  your  convictions  and  desires.  If  you 
lack  wisdom  as  to  mode  and  season  of  utterance, 


11* 


126  THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH. 

God  will  liberally  supply  it  to  him  that  asketh. 
See  the  quality  of  the  wisdom  "  that  is  from  above ;" 
how  adapted  to  self-discipline, — "  pure,"  '•  gentle 
and  easy  to  be  entreated,"  "without  hypocrisy  ;"how 
effective  for  your  purpose  toward  men, — "peace- 
able," "full  of  mercy  and  good  fruits,"  "without 
partiality" !  Endued  with  like  knowledge,  the 
"  meekness  of  wisdom"  will  show  itself  forth  with 
all  the  works  of  "  a  good  conversation,"  or  general 
course  of  life ;  and,  purifying  you  from  earthly  mo- 
tive or  aim,  will  kindle  into  intenser  glow  and  ever 
radiating  warmth  the  flame  of  your  Christian  zeal. 
Be  on  the  watch  for  opportunity  of  useful  speech ; 
not  after  a  precise  and  dogmatic  fashion,  not  to  ob- 
tain a  reputation  for  learning  and  piety,  not  to  in- 
dulge both  your  indolence  and  vanity  by  substitut- 
ing words  for  often  more  effective  action, — and  you 
will  have  ample  need  to  search  yourself  in  this 
matter — not  by  foolish  questions  to  "gender 
strifes,"  but  that  you  may  convey  gospel  truth  in 


THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH.  127 

gospel  plainness  and  meekness.  Be  on  the  watch, 
in  all  modes  of  kindly  sympathy,  in  all  forms  of 
intellectual  intercourse,  to  present  the  "  sound  doc- 
trine" by  which  you  may  exhort  and  convince  the 
gainsayers.  Have  you  love  and  faith  toward  the 
Lord  Jesus  ?  Then  is  the  blessed  encouragement 
yours  that  "  by  the  acknowledging  of  every  good 
thing  which  is  in  you  in  Christ  Jesus,"  there  may 
be  an  efedual  communication  of  your  faith  for  the 
supply  of  the  spiritual  necessities  of  those  around 
you.  Some  are  altogether  brutish  in  their  ignor- 
ance and  debasement,  and  your  care  for  the  body 
shall  humanize  and  elevate  the  soul.  Some  are 
still  babes  in  Christ,  have  "  a  little  strength,"  and 
require  your  judicious  and  constant  feeding,  first 
with  the  milk,  then  with  the  strong  meat  of  the 
word.  Some,  perhaps  your  spiritual  teachers,  are 
in  the  vigorous  manhood  of  their  Christian  life, — 
nay,  are  valiant  and  faithful  Christian  soldiers,  en- 
cased in  the  "  whole  armour  of  God,"  and  ever 


128  THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH. 

watchful  and  ready  at  their  j^ost.  But  one  joint 
in  the  harness  is  weak,  the  fine  edge  of  a  weapon 
has  become  blunt,  or  the  stalwart  champion  yields 
to  a  temporary  faintness  and  discouragement.  Go 
to  his  rescue  from  the  wily  foes  who  press  on  to 
his  undoing.  Supply  his  deficiency,  sustain  him 
in  your  arms,  shout  in  his  ear  the  battle  cry  of  his 
all  conquering  Leader,  animate  him  with  news  of 
Christian  triumj^hs,  and  with  the  sure  hojDC  and 
promise  of  final  victorj^ 

If  you  have  rightly  understood  and  received  the 
spirit  of  Christ's  teachings,  you  cannot  be  impa- 
tient, harsh,  reproachful,  or  uncharitable.  You  will 
feel  something  of  his  infinite  pity  at  sight  of  the 
ruin  and  wretchedness  around  you,  will  learn  some- 
what of  his  "  wonderful  fashion"  of  communicating 
both  knowledge  and  reproof.  If  all  that  you  de- 
sire cannot  be  accomplished,  and  you  find  yourself 
hindered  by  your  own  poverty  in  natural  endow- 
ments,  in   influence,   in   Christian   graces,   or   by 


THE    RIGHT    USE   OF    SPEECH.  129 

strenuous  outward  opposition,  still  you  must  not 
sit  useless  in  selfish  silence  and  uncaring  apathy. 
Cultivate  yourself  for  your  work.  Cultivate  your 
voice  that  its  tones  repel  not  your  hearer  in  the 
very  opening  of  your  message.  Cultivate  your  man- 
ner to  simplicity — strange  contradiction  as  this  may 
seem,  and  impossible  to  effect  but  by  gospel  method 
— to  humility,  to  gentleness,  to  kindness.  Cultivate 
your  taste  in  dress,  expenditure,  mode  of  living,  in 
every  outward  expression  of  your  inward  self,  not 
to  exalt  or  recommend  that  self  to  fastidious  and 
discerning  observers,  but  to  accomplish  a  more  en- 
tire consecration,  a  more  perfect  glorifying  of  God 
by  your  body  which  is  his.  Form  a  due  but  never 
extravagant  estimate  of  the  value  of  the  much 
prized  embellishments  of  life,  of  its  arts  and  graces, 
its  conventionahties  and  refinements,  its  lesser 
morahties,  and  merely  external  training.  Cultivate 
your  mind  by  opening  it  to  the  beholding  of  all 
things  around  you,  and  by  the  study  of  the  records 


130  THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH. 

of  the  past ;  cultivate  it  by  this  acquisition  of  all 
valuable  knowledge,  and  yet  by  "  habitually  look- 
ing to  a  purpose  beyond  the  mere  increase  of 
knowledge."  Cultivate  your  heart  not  to  a  sickly 
sentimentality,  a  morbid  sensitiveness,  but  to  such 
outgoings  of  tenderness  as  the  Saviour  displayed 
to  the  young  man  whom  beholding  he  loved, — to 
such  sympathy  as  filled  his  blessed  eyes  with  tears 
as  he  witnessed  the  grief  of  the  mourning  sister  of 
Lazarus,  as  he  looked  on  the  fair  city,  "  the  joy  of 
the  whole  earth,"  which  his  prophetic  gaze  beheld 
pillaged,  desecrated,  and  destroyed.  There  is  much 
discussion  in  this  day,  and,  as  it  seems  to  us,  little 
apprehension,  of  the  business  of  education.  Even 
those  who  adapt  best  their  means  to  the  proposed 
end,  for  the  most  part  misconceive  the  end ;  and 
neglecting  the  culture  of  the  emotional  for  that  of 
the  intellectual  nature,  would  exhibit  in  their  work- 
manship an  unnatural,  ineffective,  and  repellent 
disproportion.     Shall  we  essay  to  tell  you  what 


THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH.  131 

education  is  ?  or,  rather,  shall  we  show  it  to  you 
by  a  short  illustration  which  you  will  find  in  the 
book  of  Proverbs,  and  which  more  than  any  defini- 
tion presents  to  us  the  process  we  would  describe  ? 

"  Through  wisdom  is  an  house  buildedj  and  by 
understanding  it  is  established  : 

"  And  by  knowledge  shall  the  chambers  be  filled 
with  all  precious  and  pleasant  riches." 

No  raising  of  the  structure  is  there  without  the 
"  wisdom,"  which  is  the  knowledge  of  God,  and 
man's  relations  to  him,  the  reference  to  him  of  the 
mysteries  of  creation  and  of  the  human  heart,  and  an 
intelligent,  willing  submission  to  his  rule.  No  foun- 
dation can  establish  the  structure  but "  understand- 
ing," which  is  the  application  of  this  wisdom  to  the 
common  affairs  and  exigencies  of  life — a  Christian 
discretion,  prudence,  docility,  and  sound  judgment. 
Would  that  we  could  walk  with  you  through  those 
well  stored  chambers — those  fair  galleries,  adorned 
with  the  products  of  human  invention  and  indus- 


132  THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH. 

try,  and  with  far-surpassing  divine  gifts.  See  art 
and  poetry  revealing  the  glorious  forms  of  truth's 
undying  beauty,  and  finding  their  prototypes  in 
the  living  aspect,  in  the  beating  heart  of  creation  ! 
Behold  the  many-colored  and  resplendent  gems  of 
discovered  truth !  All  these  things  are  yours,  and 
you  may  at  will  delight  yourself  in  these  "  pre- 
cious and  pleasant  riches"  of  your  Creator's  bounty. 
And  if  there  are  eyes  too  dim,  minds  too  "  con- 
tracted by  these  walls  of  flesh,"  to  perceive  this 
matchless  excellence,  to  accomplish  this  entire  ap- 
propriation and  wise  use  of  all  divine  bestowments 
and  human  appliances,  still,  wonderful  to  disclose, 
there  is  in  the  source  of  all,  in  the  revelation  of 
Him  whose  care  is  over  all  his  creatures,  and  who, 
if  he  seemeth  to  withhold,  giv6th  yet  more  largely 
from  other  stores  of  his  bounty — there  is  in  the 
word  of  Grod  truth  which  shall  quicken  into  in- 
tellectual life,  supply  the  lacking  comprehension, 
warm  the   cold  emotion,  fill,   refine,  subdue  the 


THE    RIGHT    USE   OF    SPEECH.  133 

whole  man,  suppress  the  earthly  and  exalt  the 
heavenly  nature.  Do  we  rashly  conclude  that  in 
an  intellectual  as  well  as  spiritual  sense  there  is  a 
time,  when,  for  all  the  higher  purposes  of  know- 
ledge, "  ye  need  not  that  any  man  teach  you,"  but 
"  the  anointing  which  ye  have  received  of  Him 
*  *  *  teacheth  you  of  all  things,  and  is  truth"  ? 
Not  only  the  philosopher  and  poet  who  left  his 
conviction  on  record,  but  the  feeblest  mind  which 
applies  itself  rightly  to  the  investigation  of  Scrip- 
ture, will  arrive  at  the  conclusion  that  "  in  the 
Bible  there  is  more  that  finds  me  than  I  have  ex- 
perienced in  all  other  books  put  together.  The 
words  of  the  Bible  find  me  at  greater  depths  of 
my  being,  and  whatever  finds  me  brings  with  it 
irresistible  evidence  of  its  having  proceeded  from 
the  Holy  Spirit." 

It  is  of  the  truths  of  this  Bible  that  you  are  to 
speak — not  in  torrents  of  words,  which  stun  as 
they  fall  on  the  ear,  not  either  in  the  measured 

12 


134  THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH. 

cadence  of  studied  oratory,  with  fopperies  of  style 
and  trickeries  of  manner,  not  in  the  technical 
language  of  the  schools,  not  for  the  present  tribute 
of  admiring  hearers,  not  in  any  form  of  both  ig- 
noble and  hurtful  vain-glory,  but  to  hless  God  there- 
with,— to  use  thereby  your  one  or  your  ten  talents, 
to  honor  your  Creator,  and  declare  him  unto  your 
fellow-men.  Oh  that  the  time  might  come,  when 
freely,  readily,  naturally,  yet  with  due  rcA^erence, 
we  ma}^,  in  intercourse  with  Christians  at  least, 
make  mention  of  the  name  of  God ;  when,  without 
either  the  presence,  or  suspicion  of  the  presence 
of  affectation,  hypocrisy,  or  self-seeking  in  any 
form,  we  may  plead  the  authority  and  example  of 
Christ,  acknowledge  our  interest  in  him,  and  urge 
others  to  yield  themselves  to  his  claims;  when  the 
transition  will  be  easy  from  earthly  to  heavenly 
considerations,  from  topics  literary,  scientific,  na- 
tional, social,  and  individual,  to  the  great  themes 
of  Christian  doctrine  and  practice  !     We  said  the 


THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH.  135 

transition,  but,  viewed  in  the  clearest  light  and 
fullest  development,  all  temporal  and  eternal  in- 
terests are  one  and  indivisible.  It  is  human  short- 
sightedness which  beholds  the  part,  human  unskil- 
fulness  which  would  divide  whiit  God  has  joined 
together. 

If  we  have  not  altogether  failed  in  our  attempt, 
we  have  established  the  right  use  of  speech  as  a 
means  of  intellectual  and  Christian  discipline,  and 
a  scripturally-appointed  mode  of  glorifying  God. 
Let  it  not  be  deemed  that  in  our  effort  to  set  forth 
prominently  this  agency  we  have  over-estimated 
its  value.  Taking  the  word  of  God  as  our  stan- 
dard, we  do  not  unduly  magnify  the  office  of  the 
tongue.  Suffer,  then,  reader,  the  application  of 
our  argument.  To  this  government  and  use  of 
the  tongue,  this  rendering  of  blessing,  you  are 
called  that  you  should  inherit  a  blessing.  Life 
and  the  good  days,  without  which,  humanly  speak- 


136  THE    RIGHT    USE    OF    SPEECH, 

ing,  life  is  scarcely  to  be  desired,  are  indirectly 
promised  to  him  who  shall  "refrain  his  tongue 
from  evil,  and  his  lips  that  they  speak  no  guile." 
As  encouragement  for  the  exercise  of  this  self- 
discipline,  we  have  in  immediate  connection  the 
declaration  that  "  the  eyes  of  the  Lord  are  over 
the  righteous,  and  his  ears  are  open  to  their 
prayers."  Take,  then,  the  first  step  in  this  mat- 
ter. "  Sanctify  the  Lord  God  in  your  hearts." 
As  men  ask  you  a  reason  of  the  hope  that  is  in 
you,  be  ready  always,  in  word  and  deed,  to  give 
it  with  "  meekness"  toward  them,  and  "  fear"  or 
reverence  toward  God.  We  close  with  the  fervent 
petition  for  our  readers  and  for  ourselves,  that 
whether  we  speak  or  whether  we  minister,  God  in 
all  things  may  be  glorified  through  Jesus  Christ, 
to  whom  be  praise  and  dominion  for  ever  and  ever. 
Amen. 


